


Titanium Roses

by AmbitiousWitch



Series: Artificial Flowers [1]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, F/M, Gaslighting, Hallucinations, Mental Coercion, Mind Control, Not Avengers: Age of Ultron (Movie) Compliant, Not Iron Man 3 Compliant, Oblivious Avengers, Post-Iron Man 3, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Natasha Romanov, Psychological Thriller, Psychological Torture, The Author Regrets Nothing, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Unreliable Narrator, Villain!Wanda
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-13
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-10-04 08:19:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 11
Words: 34,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10272275
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AmbitiousWitch/pseuds/AmbitiousWitch
Summary: They say that vengeance is better served cold.Some say that is sweetest if you give it with a kiss.On hiatus until Desire Written in Olive is finished.





	1. Gooseberry

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, guys, welcome to my new fic. First I want to thank to my beta firelord65
> 
> For the people that read _The Wrong Soul_ , this fic is little different, but if you read the tags, I supuse that there's no problem. 
> 
> Every chapter has the name of a flower/plant and their meaning in the language of flowers.
> 
> Shows and movies that inspired this story: 
> 
> NBC _Hannibal_  
>  _Penny Dreadful_.  
>  _Crimson Peak_ (movie by Guillermo Del Toro)  
>  _Gone Girl_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Gooseberry:** Anticipation.

 

 

He knew that he shouldn't have been there.

 Four months ago, Tony probably wouldn't have cared about another typical meeting at SI. He would have just send his designs to Pepper or the engineers and just stuck in his house building more suits.

 But he didn’t have that house anymore. What he had was the suits, of course, dozens of them. Along with a very present anxiety and a doctor screaming at him for not taking it easy after open heart surgery.  

 He needed to get out or at least that was what JARVIS told him. He hadn't came out of the Tower since he had arrived from California. The AI was worried for his health - and maybe his sanity - and he shut down his workshop with the condition of Tony doing something different for an evening.  

 So there he was.

 The talk was about a new set of medical care and another of instruments of construction. The presenter seemed nervous of having him even if hadn't said a word and sat at the far end of the table. Tony asked himself if the guy already knew that his idea was absurd in many terms of robotic and… common sense.

 “As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, the arms will provide the workers of a safe environment for the construction and-”

 “And you will replace the workers with machines that can be used to kill them,” a low pitched, heavily accented voice interrupted. Tony turned around a saw a young woman in the corner. Brunette, pretty. Wearing a simple red dress. She was holding some notebooks against her chest, but her glance was steady on the presenter, defying him to prove her wrong.

 The guy’s face went white and then red. Of course he was going to answer.

 “And how do you know that, _intern_?”. The world came out like an insult, but the woman didn’t even blink.

 “Can’t I have an opinion of what will be a terrible idea?” The disdain in her voice was impressive for someone so young; Tony thought holding a laugh. She was an intern? Most interns were terrified of speaking over a superior.

 “I will say no. You're just here to take notes and bring coffee, missy,” the presenter said with a tremulous smile.

 “Don’t talk to her like that.” The first time that Tony spoke could have been half an hour ago to correct the wrongness of that “project”, but instead of that he was defending the honor of a woman that had talked before him. Great. JARVIS was right, he needed to go outside.

 The presenter got pale.

 “I’m sorry, sir, but here our intern must explain why she opined in a subject that doesn’t concern her.”

 The lady looked directly at him that time, just for a second, probably recognizing him. She parted her lips but then her expression went cold as she glared at the presenter again.

 “Sir, your “idea” is misguided by a large percent of ego. Those arms are of a unnatural proportion for a human body, also the structure of the forearms can be used as weapon.” The young woman didn't flinch while pointing out the failures. With every word the meeting room got full of funny glares and a kind of admiration. But of course, the engineer wasn’t going to give up so easily.

 “I think that Mr. Stark will disagree with you, missy,” he smiled at Tony as they were some closed partners in crime. Tony didn’t even remembered the guy’s name. “After all, Stark Industries doesn't make weapons anymore.”

 The “missy” grinned, and looked as she could read Tony’s last thought. She then turned at her opponent. Her smile was cruel, showing white teeth as a cat looks down at a poor, tiny mouse.

 “And for that, I think that Mr. Stark will not approve a project with dangerous technology.   _Also,_ sir, I don’t think that replacing men with machines that can kill them is the better idea for this company. Am I right, Mr. Stark?”

 She glared at Tony, her green eyes were hypnotic. And, at the same time, they had a challenge in them. _Go ahead,_ they said, _be the Merchant of Death once more. Be what they taught you to be. Put the safety of your company before the lives of innocent people._

  _You know that you did that._

 “You’re right, “ he said out loud. “This project is doomed, Fernand.”

 “Frederick, sir.“ The engineer’s face was red and he was looking at the floor. His pride maybe was in need of check.  

 “Frederick, okay, this design has everything that she has pointed out and more.T

Tony then thoroughly explained _exactly_ why the idea sucked. It was weird, working again with people that were not looking for aliens or terrorists bases. Just business and technology. No one trying to kill him. Well, maybe the young Frederick was, but Tony tried to not be so hard with the kid.

 He felt the eyes of the lady in red in his back during all the talk.

 When they finished, he asked her for a word.

 “My apologies if my behavior was inappropriate, Mr. Stark,” she said, her eyes scanning him.

 “You don’t seem apologetic, though,” he said, smiling, and she lifted the corner of her lips.

 “I suppose that I can’t have pity for somebody that has so little care about the life of the workers.” Again there was a sharp tune of accusation in her voice.

 “So, you’re… studying to be a lawyer? Are you part of the syndicate?” he asked, and she smiled again, a more soft, delicate one.

 “No, sir. My father was a construction worker. He knew what it was like being replaced by machines and having your superiors think you are dispensable.” Her voice hardened again with the last words. But she also sighed. “I also guess that I’m dispensable now.”

 “Oh, no, don’t worry. They aren’t gonna fire you. You just saved them from disaster, miss… I’m sorry, I didn’t hear you name well. “

 The lady in red gave him another toothy smile and offered him a hand.

 “A pleasure, Mr. Stark. My name is Wanda Maximoff.”

 


	2. Asparagus Fern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _And I've grown familiar_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _With villains that live in my head_
> 
>  
> 
> _They beg me to write them_
> 
>  
> 
> _So I'll never die when I'm dead._
> 
>  
> 
> "Control" by Halsey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **ASPARAGUS FERN:** Fascination
> 
> Musica for this chapter: [ "Dance with me" from "Anna Kerenina (2012) soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgIc3fj9iuUlink</A)

  


Helen Cho arrived in the morning. Tony called her to see the progress with her new invention. They had known each other for years, and Stark had been very enthusiastic about it. Financing his colleague the best that he could, in exchange that Helen had helped him and Dr. Wu with the Extremis, Pepper, and his own operation.  

Of course, she was a little grumpy from the long flight, and because it was just Tony in the Tower, not Bruce; who was a little more loved by the doctor given their shared professional interests.  


“He sent me an e-mail yesterday,” Tony said as he took away his shirt and laid on the table close to Cho’s machine. “He is still in South America. But I’m sure that he will be here to see if your lab rat is still breathing, Helen.”  


“Yes, and talking too much as always.” Helen said and touched his chest. Tony flinched a little. It wasn't so painful as the first weeks, but he still had a phantom of the hole that used to be there. “It seems to be doing well. The tissue doesn't seem to have any fissures, Tony. However, I have to remind you that you have to take it easy. Your chest is artificial, but it’s not made of iron.”  


“Well…” He smiled. She looked at him with horror.  


“Oh, no,” she whispered. “You couldn't have-”  


“Oh God, relax Helen!” He laughed getting up the table.”Do you really think that after all what happened, I would want to put anything in my body?” his voice had suddenly a mild bitter tone. “No, thanks.”  


“Well, you have had crazy ideas before,” she answered, a little more relaxed, checking the numbers on the cradle. “ _ Stay down _ . What about Pepper? Does she likes the fact that you don't shine in the darkness anymore?” The woman tried to joke, but he didn't laugh or replied so she turned around frowning. “Tony?”  


He smiled sadly.  


“No, I don't think that that will bother her anymore.”  


“I'm sorry, Tony, I shouldn't have-,” the biologist said.  


“Don’t worry, Helen,” Tony interrupted her. “It’s not like is something that you would have known. Few people know actually. We still work together; we attend conventions and galas. She is still the best CEO that any jerk in the industry couldn't dream of. General things didn't change, actually.”  


It was painful for him saying that in that way. Maybe because it was the truth; their professional relationship hadn't changed at all. Not like their personal relationship changed those awful few weeks in which Tony wanted to pretend that everything was okay, and that he could just blow up the suits and forget it all. It was a nice dream but a dream after all. Another one that was quickly replaced by more nightmares about New York, people that he loved falling and a bunch and eyes burning with fire.  


He was used to the pain, but he didn't want to Pepper to get used to it too. She had been kidnapped, tortured and experimented with, all because of his mistakes. Just days after they had returned from Hong Kong, he had started to think about that. About how many times the ones that he loved had been hurt because of him being Iron Man. Happy had gotten out of the hospital, Pepper had to deal with the Extremis until he could stabilize it. Everything seemed to be okay, but it wasn't. There was still something there; he knew that. Something outside of the comfort and normality of that new life that was calling him.  


The nightmares returned and so did the drawings and the new suits. Tony couldn't stop after that. He knew that was extremely naive, the simple notion that he would only stop fearing almost because he could control the panic attacks. Every night, while the redhead was asleep, he got up and drew, designed, talked to JARVIS. No matter how sick and tired he was after the operation, he simply didn't want to sleep.  


And one day, after he couldn't —didn't want to— refuse to help Rhodey on a mission, Pepper went down to the workshop and just stood there, arms crossed, looking at him looking at the holograms featuring  _ The Iron Legion _ ; Tony could feel her eyes on his back, but he didn't turn around. He knew that she wanted to speak first.  


“You never planned to stop, didn't you?” she whispered; she didn't raise her voice, which would have been normal; she didn't even use her “boss” voice. “We just came back and you already started again. Or... did you in the plane on the way to home?”  


“Pepper-”  


“No, you had been avoiding me for days, Tony,” her voice broke with tears and rage. ”You… you said that you wanted this, you took out the reactor.”  


“That doesn't mean anything,” he said softly. It didn't. It didn't mean anything, really. He had told himself that when he left the old house in California. He  _ was _ Iron Man; nothing could change that, nothing could stop that.  


Not even Pepper.  


“I see,” she said. “So, I don't mean more than the suits?”  


“Oh,  _ come on _ , Pepper!” he hissed turning around. “This was never a competition.”  


“Then what was it?” she said fiercely.  


“It was something doomed,” Tony said, his voice again soft. ”We never… actually had a life together. Did we? What was that? Me half of the time going around doing something that you obviously hate?  _ You _ , sometimes freaking out because I almost destroy the company or getting targeted for people that I screwed in the past?”  


“Tony, if all of this is because what happened with Killian-,” she begun with a conciliatory tune.  


“Yes, it’s about Killian!” he snapped. ”It’s about him, it’s about Stane; it’s about the goddamn Chitauri! You don't get it?” he sighed and sat down. “When was the last time that we actually were  _ at peace _ with each other?”  


It was such a simple and  _ easy  _ question. He had asked it at himself for days. The answer was  _ before _ . Before the invasion, before the pain and the fear. Before the Avengers, maybe. Before Iron Man.  


He hated the man that he was in that time, but he really, really missed being friends with Pepper. Being just there for each other without another obligation or relation than  _ being _ . So many times when she could have just quit but she didn't. So many times that he could have just treated her as any other affair and have her vanish from his life.    


He was never going to be that man again, though he would have given  _ everything _ to have what they had again. But he knew that that was impossible, there was so much pain, so much guilt.  One night, she simply walked in the workshop. Tony was just sitting alone with the lights out.  


“Everything’s over, isn't it?” Pepper said with pure sadness in her voice, but not bitterness, not anger. “You want me to leave?”  


“No,” the engineer answered. “I’ll leave.”  


And he did.  


The house in California just stayed as hers. Tony insisted, as a gift for having her locked in the one that the terrorists blew up because of him. He went back to that place one last time; took Dummy and U, and threw the old Arc Reactor into the sea.  


It was a stupid irony, but he really wanted to get back to New York.  


"So, you will continue with your… Army of Suits thing?” Helen kicked him out of his memory.  


“Mostly,” he said sighing. “We need more hands and be prepared for what might come.”  


“Not that I doubt of your intentions, Tony,” the doctor murmured while watching his far gone expression, “but don't the robots always rebel against their creators and try to destroy the world in the movies?”  


“Well, let's hope that it won't come like that, dear.” he answered.  


Helen stayed, of course, Bruce was going to comes in just a few weeks and she wanted to do tests with the cradle. She wouldn't admit in front of Tony, but everyone was like a kid in a candy shop in the Stark Tower. The almost one hundred levels of investigation might had something to do with it.  


“Sir,” JARVIS said later that night. “You have received some design plans from a Mr. Frederick Douglass, you accept them?”  


“Sure, buddy.” The engineer was too distracted to answer with suspicion. He turned around from his own designs and look at the new plan for the formerly rejected SI project. “Seems he has improved.”  


“If I may say, sir, that design has many defects still,” his AI said coolly. Tony smiled, proud, but she also reminded him of someone.  


“JARVIS, please look for a Ms. Wanda Maximoff in the SI archives.”  


“Yes, sir,” he answered and at the moment, the archive and photo of said woman appeared in one of the monitors. “Wanda Maximoff, twenty three years old, emigrated from Sokovia this year and works as intern and secretary in Stark Industries.”  


“Sokovia?” Tony asked narrowing his eyebrows.  


“It’s a country in Eastern Europe, sir,” JARVIS replied. Tony looked at the archive. It was almost empty, simple, nothing that could imply that she be a spy or from the government.  


But also nothing that said that she wasn't.  


_ You are getting paranoid, Tony. _  


His conscience sometimes sounded like Rhodey.  


Helen called him from the labs, saying that she wanted help with some computer code.  


“Okay, okay, I’m coming,” he told her as getting up. “Jarv, please close the files and send Douglass the design corrections.”  


“Yes, sir. And you told me to remind you that there's a ball that you have to attend in to two days.” Tony sighed.  


“It’s an important one?” he asked tiredly. He wasn't in mood for that with all the work in progress.  


“It’s for the Maria Stark Foundation, sir.”  


Oh,  _ that _ charity ball, gave for his mother every year to raise money for the children that lost their parents in the army.Tony also had added the motive of helping the families that had been affected by the time that his weapons were sold under the table.  


“Okay,” the man sighed. “Confirm my presence, JARVIS. I’ll go. I’ll probably get to talk to Pepper about the new medical protect.”  


“Done, sir.”  


* * *

  


Of course that the ball was boring as hell. 

And of course, all the eyes that night were on him. It was the first time in fifteen years that he went alone to an event excepting for that party that had revealed to him that his company was selling weapons to terrorists. In fifteen years Tony Stark had never been without a date. Often a date or an affair, or Pepper. But she had to cancel for some compromise in California.  


Tony didn't blame her. He had -jokingly- asked Helen if she wanted to come just to know some other recognised scientists too. The Korean woman had looked at him as he had grown a third eye.  


The little orchestra was playing classic music. That was always in honour to his mother. He remembered how she despised the “modern” loudly music that the “kids” loved some much, even she was a musical nerd and he had catch her several times dancing alone at the rhythm of  _ Footloose  _ or trying to sign  _ The Phantom of the Opera.  _ He smiled at the memory of her petite figure running around the piano trying to get him to play.  


There was also the irony of all those people that said how gracious and sweet “Howard’s wife” was at their funeral. When all those crows had looked at her up on the shoulder because the oh so marvellous genius had married a simple musician.  


His mother  _ was _ a genius. They were just too self absorbed in their own personal glory to see it.  


“You often don't see a man smiling like that when he is alone in a party.” Tony felt a chill at the sound of a low pitched voice. He turned around to see Wanda Maximoff, all in black and red with a Cheshire smile,  looking at him with darkly amused green eyes  


_ Don’t keep staring at a lady, Tony,  _ his mother's voice reprimanded him in his head.  


“Ms. Maximoff.” the engineer kissed her hand. It was ages since he had done that to a woman younger than forty. “I was remembering something funny.”  


“Like the fact that even no-ones can attend to this ball,” she said mockingly.  


“You are not no-one. And you don't look like a no-one with that dress,” Tony flirted but tried to not stare at her.  


“Yeah, all my salary goes with this dress,” Wanda laughed. She had adorable smile. Not the grin that she had gave to Frederick in the demonstration, but a real one.  


Or that was how it looked.  


“Well, what you were remembering that was funny?” she asked him lightly.  


“My mother. She was a little selective in the music but she was a Broadway girl that would have made me take auditions in  _ The Phantom _ if I wouldn't have gone for working with robots.” Tony laughed, nostalgically. He would have hated to be that but he was alone in ball that was his mother’s second baby.  


“She probably was a great lady,” Wanda said sweetly, ”not many rich wives let the commoners go to the same ball than the people that gives the money.”  


“She wasn't always a rich wife,” Tony whispered serious. He wasn't offended with her, it was a common impression, especially for a strange person. But he never liked how the people judged his mother as a gold digger.  


“I'm sorry if I said something wrong, sir.”  


“You don’t have to call me that,” Tony smiled bitterly. ”I'm not the boss anymore.”  


Wanda smiled again as she got close to him to whisper:  


“Oh, I think that Mr. Douglass thinks otherwise.”  


Tony could not laugh when he saw what she meant. Frederick was with a group of executives at some distance of them but his arrogance was replaced by a glare to the floor and a glass of wine.  


“Well, I think that it was more your victory than mine, Ms. Maximoff,” Tony looked at her and she closed her eyes and opened them when the orquesta finished the piece.  


“And will you give me a trophy, Mr. Stark?” She murmured getting close.  


What kind of game was that?  


“You can dance with me,” Wanda suggested, and the orquesta begun to play a waltz as if moved by her words.  


The man looked around and the eyes of the guests obviously followed him. Here he was, just a few months after a break up of maybe be the longest relationship that he had since college, flirting with a younger, prettier girl that was young enough to be his daughter.  


“Are you afraid of what they’re going to say?” Wanda murmured in his ear. Was he so obvious? “Or that they will see you with me?”  


Tony flinched at her hand on his his shoulder.  


“I’m not afraid,” he whispered, and she smiled.  


“Everybody is afraid of something.” She said and raised her hand. “Dance with me.”  


It was like the salon was burning. Not for the people or the heat. His vision went red for a minute and he was in the dance floor, his hand in Wanda’s waist, her long, black and red dress caressing the space between them. Ms. Maximoff’s hand was soft and cold, and her intense glare didn't let him look around.  


But he tried.  


And what he saw made his blood ran cold.  


The dance floor was full of couples moving with the waltz, but when he saw the face of one of the dancers, his breath stopped for a second.  


It was a blonde man, but when Tony focused at his face, he saw it: it was Aldrich Killian.  


Wanda’s hand moves through his shoulder to the back of his neck.  


And another face  


_ Stane. _  


A lady dancing gracefully.  


_ Maya. _  


The music grew in speed, as well his breath and the beat of his heart.  


All all those faces: his enemies, the terrorists, the people of those villages, the young soldiers that were with him in Afghanistan. All of them looking at him with hate, with red eyes.  


“Mr. Stark, are you okay?” The concerned tune on Wanda’s voice forced Tony to look at her. He realised how heavily he was breathing.  


And when he looked again to the couples, the faces were gone.  


“I have to go,” he said. His hand were shaking. Wanda tried to take his hand but he pulled it off, trying to keep a steady appearance.  


JARVIS was talking to Tony when he closed himself in a bathroom, telling him that the best was to call Happy to drive him.  


_ Not real _ , he told himself repeatedly that night,  _ that was not real. _  


Pepper called because, obviously, Happy told her that he was not okay. He brushed her away saying that it was the heat, that he had drank a little -which was not true- and a big sort of excuses.  


Funny to think that he had thought that dancing with Wanda Maximoff when they thought that he was still with Peppper was the thing people would talk about. The poor girl was probably confused about what had happened, so Tony asked for her number in the SI archives and took a breath when he left a message on the answer machine.  


“Hello, Ms. Maximoff, I just wanted to apologise for what happened last night, I was… indisposed. I just… this embarrassing, but if you need something just call me.”  


He was about to hang up when that low pitched voice sounded.  


"It's Wanda, Mr Stark. And if you want to make it up to me, you meet me at my place for lunch."  


  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is where the author takes common tropes that are seeing in romantic stories and twist them with her twisted head *evil laugh*
> 
> Helen is here... because I can't find another reason sans Extremis that could have repair Tony's chest but because this is shortly after IM3, he still needs treatment.  
> About his relationship with Pepper: I am not going to be a hypocrite and say that I like her as a character. I never liked her, and the bad writing of the MCU and especially of her character on IM3 just ended of bury her for me. So, here is the scene, as I would have imagine that the break up happened.
> 
> Thanks for the kudos and reviews!


	3. Ipomaca

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I'm well acquainted_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> _With villains that live in my bed_
> 
>  
> 
> "Control" by Halsey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Ipomaca:** I Attach Myself to You
> 
> Music for this chapter: [_Street, Horse, Smell, Candle_ from _Penny Dreadful_ series 1 soundtrack](https://m.soundcloud.com/root-18/absconditum-pd-street-horse), [_Handwriting_ from _The Reader_](https://youtu.be/3yUdW8G_Kkw) and [_Nocturnal danger from _Penny Dreadful_ series 3._](https://youtu.be/nygDytXT4U8)

 

Tony felt ridiculously uncomfortable the first time that he reached Wanda Maximoff’s doorstep dressed casually and fidgeting  with his watch. Whoever had called him playboy in the past would have laughed at see him going to lunch in jeans with a girl that he had just met.

“A moment!” Ms. Maximoff’s voice came from the apartment. “Oh, good evening. I’m glad that you didn't get lost, Mr. Stark,” she smiled as she opened the door. Tony gave her a tiny, embarrassed one of his own. “Make yourself comfortable, I’m finishing with our food.”

The little apartment was even more than one could expect from a young woman living alone. It was essentially a big room that served as kitchen and bedroom, and another that was obviously the bathroom. There was a little bed in the corner with a couch in the middle, and the walls had containers with many books. To break with the silence, Tony asked her what they were.  
  
“Oh, mostly of them are psychology,” Wanda replied with a grin without looking at him. “I find the mind _fascinating_ , don't you, Mr. Stark?”  
  
“Please just call me Tony,” he said and tried to not think in the irony of not having addressed her with her name as she had asked him. “I suppose that I prefer artificial minds. They’re… less tricky.”  
  
“Oh, I bet they are,” Wanda said softly as she dropped the food in the plates. The woman smiled and served the table. “It’s chicken paprikash. My mother used to cook this for my father when they had a fight and she was the one who had to apologize.”  
  
“Apologize?” He asked as Wanda sat in front of him.  
  
“Yes… I owe you an apology, Mr. Stark,” the young woman said softly and raised her hand before Tony could protest. ”My behavior at the ball was unacceptable.”  
  
“No, Wanda, listen I wasn’t feeling well and-”  
  
“I mean in general,” she interrupted him. ”You see, Mr. Douglass started a rumour about you and me being lovers and that that was the reason behind a girl of my age and position getting a work in SI. So, the night of the ball, I planned to make you uncomfortable enough for you to reject me in a public way so I could prove that wrong,” she smiled sadly. ”I realised that that was something horrible to do and I wanted to make it up to you.”  
  
Tony was speechless. He had gone on this date thinking that his sudden flashback had worried the girl but instead she was the one trying to fix that embarrassing moment.  
  
“And with all that happened, I realised that maybe I wanted to know you for real,” she continued speaking. ” I admire what you are doing for the company so I thought: Maybe there’s more of him than the boss, the playboy, or the weapons dealer.”  
  
Wanda’s face turned pink after that and she had to fill her mouth with chicken to stop talking. Tony was still looking a her. This girl had invited him, a complete stranger, to her home to apologize for trying to stop others from slut shaming _her_ . Ms. Maximoff –Wanda– wanted to know him even when that could cost her her reputation and add more fuel to the fire.  
  
He thought that maybe was the first time in years that somebody besides a close friend just told him that.  
  
“Mr. Stark?” Wanda looked at him nervous. 

“It’s Tony,” he sighed giving her big smile. “And there's nothing to forgive, Wanda.” He ate a little of his plate but at the second bite begun to cough. The chicken was spicy as hell and both he and Wanda couldn't help but laugh after she touched his shoulder murmuring more apologies.

Wanda’s laugh could light up a dark room.

The lunch ended up being snaks.They talked about everything and nothing. The company, their hobbies, and families. She told him that she had a brother that had stayed in Sokovia and that her parents had died in the war. Tony felt a strange pressure in his chest at her face when she mentioned them. He told her about Rhodey, the Avengers and New York. Her face tightened a little when Tony brought up Captain America and she commented that he was not very popular in her country.

All the tension that had plagued that night in the ball was gone. In her home, Wanda was as comfortable as he was in his workshop. She didn't seem the harsh lady of the reunion or the mysterious dark beauty in that ball.

Everything was lovely until he received a call from Bruce, telling him that something serious had happened and that he had been calling him all the afternoon. Something about Natasha and Cap. Tony sighed knowing that it was time to go back to the real world, with all its treats.

Tony thanked Wanda for the pleasant time and assured her that no-one in SI would listen to Douglass’s bullshit because if his designs continued being shitty he didn't exactly have the time to play the gossip.

The Sokovian woman gave him a peck on the cheek when she guided him out of the little apartment.

“Anthony,” Tony froze at hearing her use his full name. “I wanted to know if you would like to come again. Just to eat something that’s not snacks?”

Tony laughed and turned around to her big smile.

“I will never get you to call me Tony, will I?” He said and Wanda laughed, her cheeks turning red.

“No, I think you won’t.”

* * *

 

Steve Rogers woke up in his second day at the hospital after the fall of SHIELD. The doctors had told him that he had still a few days before they could release him. The doctors were obviously talking with one another about how incredible his healing capacity was and _that_ was making him uncomfortable after all what had happened.

He opened his eyes expecting to find Sam in his chair but he saw Natasha, with a better look that the last time that he had saw her. She was texting on her mobile with a tense expression.

“Fury?” Steve asked her while he sat up in the bed.

“No, it's Tony,” Natasha answered pressing her lips in a line.

“What does he want?” The captain asked narrowing his eyes.

“He is worried about us,” the spy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the word. “Apparently they were trying to hack into his AI and he only knows what happened because the news reported the fall of the helicarriers.”

“What are you telling him?” Steve said. It was strange hearing Natasha using Stark’s nickname.

“That we’re okay, but that it’s not all we have to tell him, isn’t it?” Natasha pressed the “send” button like she wanted to make a point of her question. Her green eyes glared at Steve without an inch of her usual friendliness.

“Fury wants Stark to know that he is alive?” He said, tempting.

Natasha sighed.

“You know what I’m talking about, Steve. Please don't pretend like you don’t.”

“I am not pretending! I don’t know what are you talking about.” Steve snapped, offended.

“I’m talking about what Zola told us in that bunker, Steve. About the Winter Soldier. About his algorism.” She looked at her friend and bate her lips. “He said that “accidents happen” and then showed a newspaper with a headline for Howard and Maria Stark’s death”

“Stop it,” Steve said closing his eyes.

“A car accident, Steve,” she hissed. “I know better than you how effective the Winter Soldier was.”

The supersoldier closed his eyes with pain, remembering Bucky’s face while he screamed _You are my mission!_ Bucky didn’t have a choice in any of that and Zola could easily have just being lying, thinking that Bucky killing Howard would turn Steve against him.

If Natasha was right, it was something horrible. But Bucky _still_ didn't have a choice.

"There's no proof that it was him,” he tried to say. “Zola could have just been messing with us. I don't think that killing Howard and his wife was priority.”

“He was one of the founders of SHIELD  and its principal provider of weapons,” Natasha replied. “We have to tell Tony.”

“No,” Steve spat.

“What?”

“We don't know if it was him, Nat,” the blonde insisted. “It could have been just an accident…”

“ _Of course_ , that’s what they it look like, Steve,” she rolled her eyes.

“... And Bucky is my friend, I will not have him accused based on possibility alone,” he confronted Natasha’s face with defiance.

She didn't even blink. “And Tony was their son.”

It was Steve’s turn to sigh.

“How do you know that it was him?” He asked with defeat.

“You might know Bucky Barnes better than anyone, but I know killers,” the spy answered mechanically. “And he was good trying to make it look like an accident with _me._ I’m sure that two unarmed civilians were easy.”

“And what do you want to do?” The captain murmured. “Tell Tony that his parents were murdered more than twenty years ago? Why? Why open again that wound? What if Bucky didn't kill them?”

“Then his parents remind dead for a random accident,” she said bluntly. “But if it’s true and we keep their murders from him-”

“We will protect him from a worst truth,” Steve interrupted her harshly.

Natasha narrowed her eyes.

“Tony is not a child, Steve. And he is not your child. You can't decide this for him.”

"Aren’t we supposed to be teammates, Nat? Don't we have to look for each other?” Steve protested.

This is not our secret, Steve!” The redhead snapped jumping up the chair. “This doesn't concern _us._ This is not about _us._ It’s about Tony, about his parents; about Barnes.”

“And he is my friend!” The captain screamed.

"You can’t decide for him too, Steve!”

He looked at her surprised. He didn't know why she was so concerned about keeping a secret. She was a spy after all, Steve told her that and her glare just grew colder.

“This is not a job, Steve. No one is paying me for lying here, unless you want to employ me…”

“I didn't say that,” he tried to stop her.

“... This is too _personal_ ,” Natasha finished playing with her mobile. “I’m going to tell him.”

“No.” Steve said trying to keep a steady voice.

“You don't give me orders, Steve,” the Black Widow replied coolly.

“I will tell him, Nat,” he tried to stop her. “I swear I will tell him, but you have to give me time to know that Bucky is safe.”

Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“Safe from whom? Tony?”

“Safe from Hydra, from the injustice that can be his imprisonment. I just want him safe, Natasha! He saved my life and he is my best friend.”

“You keep saying that,” she whispered, “it’s like you… Never mind. I am going to ask Tony for help for the SHIELD agents that have left.”

Steve nodded and rested himself in the bed with relief.

“I will tell him when we come back to the field, Nat. I promise you. You said that I was a bad liar, right?” He tried to joke but her big, penetrating eyes didn't show any amusement.

“I hope that. This secret, Steve, is a red in my ledger. One that I really don’t want,” Natasha murmured as she left the room.

* * *

 

_Two months._

Tony Stark had been dating Maximoff for more than two months.

Of course that everything had just begun with that lunch in her house and then Tony found himself going to visit her when the young woman had a free day or she would call him to go out. Wanda always was the one who choose were they were going and Tony just let her take charge. He stayed preoccupied with the paparazzi.

“I know how rich you are, Anthony,” she had told him once during a dinner. “I just want to have some power here, okay? Let’s break the rules.”

Tony didn’t mind where she took them. Half of his mind was always amazed by how _intense_ was that woman. The other half was , as always, worried sick about _everything._

SHIELD had fallen and with that he had a lot of work trying to help many of the agents that had been exposed  with the data dump. Maria Hill was along them. Tony had being furious about his so called teammates not contacting him after a shit like that. After his house had been almost blown up _again_ . 

And he had to admit, that the few hours that he could spend with Wanda every day were a blessing. Even when the tabloids discovered their dates, the young woman was very able to take them to the most unexpected places. Wanda didn't care about the newspapers, no matter how many times Tony apologized for them.

“They don't have lives of their own, my darling,” she had said. They were having dinner in a little restaurant in Hell’s Kitchen.

“You have to admit that's not normal for a girl of your age dating somebody of my age, Wanda,” Tony whispered. He knew that those… Vultures were writing about the “cliche of the pretty secretary,” even when he wasn’t the head of SI anymore and Wanda was not his employee.

“My parents were fifteen years apart,” Wanda smirked narrowing her eyes almost defying him to show his insecurities again.

But was it really so bad? They just talked and had dinner. She didn't seem comfortable with luxury and he didn’t treat her as some new affair after Pepper. They hadn’t even kissed more than a chaste peck on the lips. Bruce and Helen had said that he seemed more happy.

Was that bad?

“You are distracted tonight,” Wanda said softly. “Is there something wrong, Anthony?”

“No, sweetheart,” Tony lied and of course, the woman noticed it.

“What is it?” She asked again and sighed when he didn't reply. ”Just don't pay attention to them, dear.”

God, he was pathetic wasn't he?

“I have something to tell you,” Wanda told him playing nervously with the pendant of her necklace. “I- I was accepted to college.”  

“That's wonderful, Wanda,” Tony smiled taking her hand.

“Yes, I think that I will let you take me out next week to celebrate because it's also my birthday.”

“Your birthday?” Tony asked almost choking with his drink, and she nodded trying to not laugh. “I- I suppose that we can go out, in some years we maybe will celebrate the birth of Dr. Wanda Maximoff.”

You can count on that, Dr. Stark,” Wanda smiled with a strange shine in her eyes.

But of course the bad guys never took vacations.

That night he received – _finally_ – a message from Steve. He said that the Avengers had to come back because apparently Hydra had been in possession of Loki’s little scepter ever since it went missing. And a guy called Baron Strucker was doing human experiments with its powers. Tony remembered the horrible sensation of being close to that thing and felt a shiver running his back.

And that announcement followed a week of nightmares. The wormhole, Happy blowing up in that theater, Pepper falling with her veins shining orange. One night Pepper’s face was replaced by Wanda’s, her scared eyes shining with red as he failed on catch her, too.    

That thought made Tony doubt. He knew that he wasn't going to stop being Iron Man. That he understood when he broke up with Pepper. And Wanda, she was a civilian. She didn't walk around with bodyguards or know how to use a weapon. Suddenly the idyllic time that they had been living those weeks crashed with reality.

Nevertheless the engineer tried to be positive and continue with their... friendship. At her birthday he went to pick Wanda in her home. The young woman made a joke about the date and whether Tony was going to take her to a McDonalds just to keep the vultures away.  He kept staring at her and later complimented her looks. Wanda gave him a bright smile and showed him the acceptance letter saying that she expected to call her brother to give him the news.

“Where are we going?” She asked him after a little while. They still had yet to actually have dinner, all jokes regarding McDonald’s aside.

“I think that maybe this can be my turn to cook you something, can't be?” Tony tried to joke.

“You know how?” Wanda mocked him.

“Yeah, I know how to make pasta and… Omelettes,” the man answered winning another laugh from her.

Fortunately Bruce and Helen were out that night for some scientific academy’s yearly meeting . Even though his floor on the tower was private and closed, he really didn’t want to put Wanda in an awkward position; and God that he didn’t know what was going to happen when Rhodey would return from mission.

Wanda kissed him when he turned off the lights and put a small cake in front of her.

“Now, are you going to tell me what's happening or do I have to read your mind?” she joked sweetly and caressed his cheek.

“What?” Tony mumbled and the girl smirked.

“You have been distracted all night, Anthony. What's wrong?”

Tony sighed. “Cap called last week. He wants to us to come back to the field, disarm the Hydra bases that were passing for SHIELD’s. I’m going to be out for a time.” Tony noticed how she tensed up and her jaw hardened. Damn, he knew that this conversation was going to be difficult.

“And you want us to stop seeing each other? Am I an obstacle in your work?” She said merciless.

“No, no, no, Wanda, _listen_ ,” Tony sighed taking her by the forearms. ” This work that I do, is not only dangerous, it _paints_ a crosshair on the back of everyone that's close to me. And sweetheart, _many_ people that I love got hurt because of me. This tower was almost blown up just a few months ago. I just want you to know-”

“What I’m getting into?” Wanda interrupted him with an ironic smile. “I knew that since the first moment that I saw you, Anthony. I know the dangers and please don't be offended but I can protect myself.”

Tony really wanted to argue he wanted to talk about Pepper, Happy, Yinsen, but instead of that, he decided that he was being stubborn and that nothing that he could do will change Wanda Maximoff’s mind.

“I will never have you calling me Tony, will I?” He tried to break the tension with their usual private joke.

“I can call you Edward if you prefer,” Wanda grinned and he ended up laughing.

“Oh, no, don’t you dare, _mphh_ ,” her lips shouted him in a deep kiss that stopped, at least for a moment, every worry though that he had. She closed her arms around his neck and embraced him while saying:

“I know the dangers. I don't care about them. You think that you can escape from me so easily? No, it’s too late for that.” Her lips touched the back of his neck. “Too late.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I don't find any reason for Natasha to keep the secret of Tony s parents more than she didn't have idea that Rogers hadn't told him. I stuck in that headcanon. 
> 
> Thanks for the reviews.


	4. Cress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I’ve always been a hunter_   
>  _Nothing on my tail_
> 
>  
> 
> _But there was something in you_   
>  _I knew_   
>  _Could make that change_
> 
> _To capture a predator_  
>  You can’t remain the prey  
>    
> "Become the Beast" by Karliene

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Cress:** Power, Stability, always reliable
> 
> I swear I have no excuse for the delay of this chapter except that I did a mess in the timeline. Damn MCU and its short time events. I changed some of the dates so the things would be a little more natural for the characters. 
> 
> In the MCU wikia the Maximoffs volunteer for Hydra in May of 2014, I changed that to January. 
> 
> Also the story is now in April, not much after the Shield fiasco in DC that was during 4 to 6 April, 2014.
> 
> Music for this chapter: [_Too late_ from _Anna Karenina (2012)_](https://youtu.be/SNHuymk4EKQ) [,and _Full bloom_ from _Stoker_](https://youtu.be/XerUPBc90PM)

_Wanda, what are you doing?_ her mother used to ask.

 _Wanda, where are you?_ her father used to say when he couldn't figure out why she was lost in her thoughts.

 _What are you thinking, Wanda?_ her brother, her dear brother, always wondered.

“You’re alright?” She heard Stark ask. She felt a kiss on her shoulder, and her dress fell on the floor.

“I’m fine.” She had told that to Pietro too, that night when everything had begun. After the injections and radiations with the scepter. Doctor List had came to them like the genie of a tale: offering gifts but not telling what was the price of having them. And Pietro had convinced her by telling her that they could make the riots in Sokovia disappear. It was painful but the young woman never screamed. The irony of the fear in her brother's face would have been funny if she hadn’t been able to see her reflection in the glass that connected their cells.

Her hair floated around her head, her eyes and hands had shone red. Her brother had stared at her, terrified, waiting for his turn. But Wanda hadn't felt frightened, she had felt _complete._

“I’m more than fine.” She kissed Stark back and held him so tightly that they tripped over the bed. Her nails scratched his naked back then went to his head, burying in his hair. Her hands were red. He couldn't see them.

And he never would.

Even with her own mind clouded by lust, Wanda could feel his almost in the same state but also worried and anguished for what had happened that evening.

“It’s okay,” she whispered. “Everything will be okay.”

Wanda remembered how she had told that to the first person that she has used her powers in. A soldier, one of the guards at the hall in the base.

And then the words begun to appear in her mind.

_Beautiful._

_Miracle._

_Weapon._

And with that Wanda begun to see _red_.

The man apparently hadn’t felt anything with her intrusion but she was suddenly swimming in an ocean of voices, feelings, her own anger and indignation.

She had felt like drowning.

 _They lied to us,_ the woman thought as every voice, every mind that she heard was like a new mock. The riots in Sokovia, they were being caused by them. List was smiling when he brought Pietro back to his own cell. Her brother was trembling, his veins shining blue. The doctor also looked at Wanda and stepped back to study her. _You lied to us!_

Doctor List’s mind was a little cave of ambition and arrogance. He practically was screaming to her, just like Strucker. They had used them, they _will_ use them. As their weapons, as their soldiers, as their _puppets_. They never had the intention of giving them powers to stop the riots, to save their country. Wanda, Pietro, the other volunteers that had died during the experiments - they were all tools.

Tools for Hydra’s own war.

Tools to defeat the Avengers.

That night while her brother was shaking and jumping, and his brown hair began to turn white, Wanda’s mind began to work.

Strucker came back days later and smiled at her. The young woman's appearance had changed and didn't seem to contain the majesty that had impressed the baron. In that moment she looked petite, small, child-like.

So much so, apparently, that he went off for a minute and came back with some wooden blocks. Wanda raised her big eyes at him and crawled in her hospital gown to look at the toys that had fallen  the little hole that they used to pass in food. The woman elevated the blocks with her powers and gave the man a sleepy smile, as though she were really a child that had just been provided her favorite toy. Strucker smiled back to her.

 _My miracle,_ he thought.

When he turned around, the blocks had become tiny fragments of wood around her.

The bloody lying _bastard._

Wanda was not his; she was not List’s or Hydra’s. They were treating her as a toy, as a weapon, as a child. She remembered being a child, trapped by that missile, waiting for her death and her twin’s. She was not that child anymore. They had given her and her brother those powers; they were theirs now.

Every mind on that base worked as a chain. First was that soldier boy. She had just smiled at him and then made him do simple tasks as training; remove the trash of the blocks, braid her hair, open the door when the others weren't there so she could see her brother. Small things for a single small mind. Within those few days, Wanda tested her gifts on him and on other lowly soldiers that were to busy kissing their superior’s asses to be elevated in “the cause” that didn't seem to notice her intrusions. In less than one week, she could manipulate thoughts, actions, emotions, and perceptions. She could control what they _saw_.

And during the great day, her power, her _control,_ was in the base in form of a beautiful red mist.

Fortunately for her, they were more focused on Pietro. He was so fast that no one could see him, and that made him a _perfect_ asset for missions. Wanda on the other hand was a mystery. Too unstable, too unpredictable, too childlike. They just watched her “play” with toys and then stare at the glass with a dreamy expression as she waited for her twin to come back from his missions.

Of course that that was the only thing that they could see of her.

And they would never see more.

Wanda explained everything to her brother in those days. Speaking through his mind, seeing how his face turned twisted because the rage and urging him to calm down when he suddenly planned go and kill everyone in the base for their lie.

Even before his powers, Pietro had always being hot tempered, always quick at everything: at rage, at love, at forgiveness.

But then, she had needed his speed for something more.

It was a coordinated plan. A plan that just went for twenty minutes, and the Maximoff twins were suddenly found _dead_ in their cells by Doctor List.

Wanda grinned when the man had kneeled down to see the soldier’s broken body in the floor. It was _her_ corpse, and her brother's, at least in List’s mind and the minds of the people that were under her… _spell._

Spell. That sounded quite good.

Things had been arranged and set up. And in just one day, the Maximoff twins were just some other failed subjects of Project Miracle.

Wanda kept the mist in every important member of that base until the bodies were buried in some quick, pathetic little holes. The young woman hadn’t felt anything when she had killed those two. ”Everything will be okay,” she had told them while they choked. As if her jailers deserved comfort.

Then, when they were certain they were no longer in Hydra’s claws, they left.

It was quick. In just one hour, Pietro and her were again in the streets of Novi Grad.

Wanda had being almost passing out of exhaustion when they knocked Zrinka’s door.

Sweet and caring Zrinka. Oh, how she missed her in that moment, in a different land, nursing no more feelings than hate, lust and revenge. That girl had been the closest thing that Wanda had had to a sister. She was too good and sometimes too naïve. She and her family had survived the bombings, and Wanda and Pietro always had a home with them when they escaped from the different orphanages where they were sent by the government. When the twins had reached the adulthood, they moved in with her. The girl’s parents had been killed during the last rebellion, and she had a little brother to raise.

Zrinka hadn’t wanted to continue with the fight that had killed her parents so when the riots begun, she kept a low profile even when two rebels were living with her. She had protested when Pietro had informed her about Doctor List’s offer, saying that they could die or become monsters. Her expression when they came back that night looked like she maybe was right.  

Wanda had looked at her shining hands, at Pietro’s new white-blonde hair and his eyes full of rage and thought: _Maybe you are right._

Maybe they were monsters, but there were bigger monsters out there.

“Why did they want you anyway?” Zrinka had asked that first night while putting two cups of tea in front of them. “If it wasn't to make the government fall, then what was it?”

Wanda had laughed bitterly at that.

“Oh, they _did_ want soldiers. Freaks, to be more specific. But not to make an empire fall, they wanted to make _other freaks_ fall.”

“Other freaks?” Zrinka had said, glaring at Pietro as if Wanda had just said something in another language.

“The Avengers,” the brunette had groaned giving a look to her brother. The name _Stark_ passed through both their minds. That name that had being the product of their nightmares for years. “Those ‘heroes’, those _killers_ in the other side of the world. Strucker is afraid of them. _Hydra_ is afraid of them. And our companions died to be guinea pigs for a experiment to destroy them.”

Wanda had been scratching her own hand while talking. Mama always told her to not do that.

Zrinka then left to see how her little brother was and Pietro took that moment to finally embrace Wanda after all that had happened.

But for the first time in her life, Wanda hadn't hugged him back. She couldn't, her insides were on fire. Pietro seemed to notice that.

“You know that you could have killed them,” he whispered against her ear. The young woman raised a hand and contemplated her fingers shining in scarlet red.

“History books don't lie about Hydra,” she whispered, her voice full of poison. “No matter how many times you slice off their head,here are just more to appear in the future.”

She slipped out from his hug and put her hands inside her coat’s pockets, looking through the window to the streets of Novi Grad. Their city. The city in which they had to grow up alone thanks to the violence that infested it. New people just had kept arriving and living, bringing and leaving more violence. The bombings, SHIELD, Hydra, the Avengers would come she was sure, because like Hydra they would want the scepter and the power back. They would want the love of the disgraced people of Sokovia for saving them from the big bad that had invaded them. Then they would leave and her country would be used again as a battlefield; and the citizens then would wait for a miracle that would just happen again and the men and woman that had died with them in those experiments will be just missing names. Wanda and Pietro would be among them. Two more victims of rebellion and violence.

Wanda was tired of hiding to avoid it.

She wanted to be the _cause_ of it. She wanted Hydra out of her streets. She wanted the Avengers dead because they were the reason because Hydra was in her country in the first place. They were the ones that let the scepter get taken. She wanted Hydra, the Avengers, Stark _paying_.

But Wanda wasn't going to do that for Hydra or with their help.

She was _no one’s_ servant.

It had been no problem entering the United States with her powers and some false documents. Neither had entering Stark Industries as some naïve newcomer intern. She could control what they saw, what they heard. They were just puppets dangling on the red strings from her hands.

Pietro had been against it. Of course, his twin going into the mouth of the beast wasn't something that pleased him but Wanda reminded him that _she_ was the one that saved them and that the corpses that were deep down in the earth with their names were the proof that she wasn't the same little girl that he had to protect from the bomb.

The truth was that Wanda had cried, that first time in her little apartment. She spent hours under the spray of the shower looking at her own hands and letting the tears go down with the water. No blood had been spilled from those two soldiers but she could _feel_ the blood on her hands. And no matter how many times she washed them she knew that there was no going back.

So, she cried for the life that she could have had. For the pain that she had endured and for the pain that she was sure that she was going to to cause. When the shower finally ended  and Wanda looked at her pale face in the mirror, she took a scarlet red lipstick and put it on.

There's was not going back… Not until everything was done.

A toothed smile met her in the reflection.

_Not going back… Scarlet Witch._

 

* * *

 

A light woke Wanda up. Not sunrise, an electronic light. She looker up and Stark was still at her side, glasses on, apparently reading some calculations in his computer. The woman had grown used to her lover working until very late at night and very early in the morning, even with so little time together.

She had to admit that his non stopping mind was something fascinating.

“There's more messages?” Wanda sat up a little and rested her head on her hand. The caring girlfriend was back after that horrible day. She really wanted to laugh about SHIELD, about Hydra, about the fall and rise of the powerful in such a stupid game but she didn't. She just leaned over and touched Stark’s arm to kick him out of his concentration.

“Hmm? No, no, it’s just something that I begun with Bruce a while ago after New York. An abandoned protect. Useless,” he murmured while taking her hand and giving a small kiss. Wanda smiled with disdain while he couldn't see her. Stark never paid such attention in ‘useless’ protects.

 _Are you making more_ guns _for_ them _?_

“May I?” Her voice came silky and sweet as he smiled and put the computer in her lap and encircled  her shoulders with his arm. The monitor showed a strange schema of circuits that looked like a brain. “It looks like Jarvis.”

Wanda had had the pleasure of seeing the artificial intelligence’ true form. And she _had_ to give the credit to that man’s mind for it.

“Well, it would have been an advanced version of him,” her lover explained changing the graphics to various images of many of his suits. Wanda tried to not tense up. “The Iron Legion would have been controlled by him via satellite and it would protect the whole world from… What could come from outside. We called him Ultron.”

Wanda rested her head in his bare shoulder and reached a hand to caress the back of his head smiling sharply. She could _feel_ that fear and the paranoia on him without having to read his mind. It was so easy and delicious to have that fear in her hands. Since the first moment that she had seen him, she had known that batting her eyelashes was not the best tactic that she had.

The best tactic, as with every living being, was to know what he _feared_.

“It’s impressive.” Stark shook his head at the compliment and smiled in a self despicable way.

“It’s a little less than a fantasy, sweetheart.” he closed the laptop and held her against his chest. “This week I have to admit that I’m more afraid of what humans can do.”

She nodded, closing her eyes and trying to keep up a serious expression. After the Black Widow had realised the secrets of both SHIELD and Hydra, it had taken Stark a few weeks to take half of SHIELD’s intelligence department under his and SI’s wing. But during that time, the SHIELD agents that were out the country, retired or on missions had been slaughtered by their enemies. Less than four days ago, the massacres had been recorded and sent to the ones that they couldn't reach.

The day before, Stark had gone pale while looking one of the videos that were sent specifically to his direction. That woman that he had rescued with his army of lawyers, Maria Hill, was crying. There were children among the deaths.

“Where is Romanoff?” The ex-agent had asked, her eyes red. “Where is that _bitch_?!”

“She couldn't have know what was going to happen,” Stark had told her, hugging her, but the woman had just laughed bitterly.

“Why would she care? She went to the Congress with all her ledger full of blood and said _fuck you_ to the authorities. She told them that she and Rogers were too important to get arrested. And then she just goes and vanishes while my friends are being killed. Good lord, she has _you_ .” Maria was crying again. ”You’re protecting her, you always protect them. But who protected _them_?” The woman had screamed pointing to the screen before bursting fully into tears, no longer able to speak. Tony was just held her, not wanting to look back to that horrifying tape. Wanda had moved closer without offering comment or sympathy, intrigued by the twist of the plot. SHIELD and Hydra had just destroyed each other.

But the Avengers still existed.

Anthony had made love to Wanda after. Maybe for worry, or lust. For relief that she was safe. She had to admit that in the heat of the moment she did not care.

The young woman said goodbye, got dressed, and told him that she would think about his proposal of living in the Tower.

Once outside, she received a call.

“What are you doing, Wanda?” Pietro’s voice was half anger and concern.

“Did you see the news?” she asked, not repressing her shark-like smile.

“Yeah, I also saw what the magazines are saying. What’s wrong with you?” He was angry. Wanda just smirked more.

“I’m inside, aren’t I?”

“It seem that you are more _inside_ than anyone.” The woman snorted as she got in a taxi. Her twin always had a sharper tongue when he was worried.

“You don't have to worry about me,” she assured him.

“Tell me a reason why I shouldn't.” _Of course,_ Pietro wasn't going to let it go easy.

“Because I got one,” Wanda said softly, “and there's only five left.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, just to put things in order: _I am not bashing Natasha Romanoff in this chapter_. Nor in any chapter. I love Natasha, she is my favorite after Tony and Matt, but I _can't_ let the SHIELD thing pass because CA: TWS was a stupid closterfuck just as its sequel and I hate what they did with her there. 
> 
> [Zrinka](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/) is not an OC by the way. She is a minor character in AoU and because in a deleted scene Wanda seemed to know her name I decided to make them friends.
> 
> Well, the wikia despites some Wanda’s abilities as this:  
> [Maximoff's mental power is even strong enough to reverse the effects of the Mind Stone, one of the most powerful objects in existence, as shown when she freed Helen Cho from the stone's control. She can also **manipulate the memory, thoughts, actions, emotions, and senses of others at will, as well as to induce sleep or pain and create illusions without any difficulty.**](http://marvelcinematicuniverse.wikia.com/wiki/Scarlet_Witch)
> 
> When I started this chapter it was like a kind of cruel joke because this back story in the tie-in comics is very much used as an excuse for every shitty decision that she did in AoU. _But_ with all those powers, are they really telling me that she was so stupid that never noticed that Strucker and List were Hydra? A freaking _telepath_? Yeah, okay. I decided to change that and give her some agency (and intelligence) to make her embrace her powers and not “I can't control their fear” bullshit.
> 
> Thanks for the reviews.


	5. Fritillaria

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _They send me away to find them a fortune_   
>  _A chest filled with diamonds and gold_
> 
>  
> 
> _The house was awake_  
>  _With shadows and monsters_  
>  _The hallways they echoed and groaned_
> 
>  _I sat alone, in bed 'til the morning_  
>  I'm crying, "They're coming for me."  
> And I tried to hold these secrets inside me  
> My mind's like a deadly disease.
> 
>  
> 
>  _Control_ by Halsey.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Fritillaria:** Persecution
> 
> Music for this chapter: [_Won't let go_ feom _Cloud Atlas_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4uLWf59kQnU&list=PLsR1TWq-eGPwlHk6CDmdqVAci6xbd9nu5&index=9), [_Mary tends Henry_ from _The Other Boleyn Girl_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dAEZFPYANrs&index=5&list=PLNeiyom4reIsC962eMm4J7RGiEDEo8zmy) and [_Blanche's Diary_ from _Possession_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBo84tMRyZs)

Nat had left her last hunter in a dumpster at the outskirts of Berlin. She hadn't killed him and someone would probably find him tomorrow morning while tossing garbage onto his unconscious body.

She could almost hear Madame M saying _sloppy._

Maybe he would try again when he recovered. The others probably would, too. Maybe the Black Widow should have finished them off so they wouldn’t be a bother to her mission in the future. They were trying to kill her after all.

She shook her head trying to exile those thoughts. _No_. She wouldn’t kill anyone. She hadn't kill anyone since she had entered in SHIELD. Hurt, yes, but not kill. She was the Black Widow, she had been trained enough and was clever enough to know how to not spill blood when it wasn’t convenient.

 _You shouldn’t think that is not_ convenient _,_ Natasha reprimanded herself. _It’s not right. You are trying to do the things_ right. _Forget what they told you. You are your own. They don’t define you._

She really wished that that could be true.

“Ms. Romanoff?” The spy jumped in her seat. Shit, she had to get used to that voice. “Our next step is in Belgium. Agents Claire Randall and Marcus Fraser were in an undercover but disappeared two weeks after the data dump. Bodies were not found.”

“Thank you, Yocasta.” She hadn't got used to the AI giving her intel as she worked her cases, but Tony had insisted that it would be better if she had someone that could call the Avengers immediately if something went wrong since Nat wanted to do that work alone.

Of course she was working alone. Who would have wanted her after what had happened?

The first hunter had appeared three days after the data dump. Fortunately for her, the boy was not well trained. He had just came with a gun in the night, pointing at her head when she arrived to her apartment. “My father is dead because of you,” he had said with a whimper and Natasha had sighed deeply. She had left him knocked out on  her bed and called an ambulance.

The second was shortly after Nick’s “official funeral,” the day that she had spoken with the Department of Defense: a car had followed her and tried to hit her in the middle of the freeway. She lost them and ended up leaving Washington and sleeping in the car.

Natasha had thought that maybe she should have gone with Steve, but in a way the mere idea seemed ridiculous. Steve’s quest was not her fight, and she would just slow them down with agents trying to kill her.

So the Black Widow arrived in New York three weeks after the fall of SHIELD. That was when the twelfth hunter found her.

This one had had company: six backups. Natasha ended with a sprained arm, a broken nose, and a stab in the side. She ended up in the Stark Tower with Jarvis opening the door as though she had always lived there. Could an AI feel pity? Why she was suddenly offended by that thought? Jarvis told her where to find a first aid kit and the spy just sat tiredly on the kitchen counter treating her wounds.

Clint had called her screaming that he had been exposed, that his family could have been killed, _what was she thinking_.

_What was she thinking?_

She had wanted to win that fight, save those people, stop the Helicarriers, survive.

She was always thinking about surviving. Always completing the mission.

But what had been the mission when she was in front of that computer? Was it to save people? To  no longer be afraid of being caught or of the world seeing her as the monster that she was? She didn’t know.

She had felt _numb._

“Jesus Christ, Romanoff.” Stark’s voice kicked her out of her thoughts. “One of this days you’re gonna find a blast in your face if you keep breaking in like that.”

“I didn’t break in. Jarvis opened the doors” Natasha tried to form a smile on her beaten face. Stark looked like he hadn’t slept in the days and had a defensive expression.

“Jarvis?” His question was directed at the AI itself rather than confirming what Natasha had just said.

“Ms. Romanoff seems to need medical attention, sir,” the AI replied with his neutral tune. “I told her that she could use the fist aid kit in the bathroom to treat her wounds. Was I wrong?”

Stark sighed again and glared at Natasha. She could only imagine that she looked like a mess.

 _Vulnerability is your most powerful weapon._ Madame’s voice said in her head. _Unless the target requires it. Don’t drop your facade, otherwise-_

 _He is not a target._ Natasha took a deep breath, trying to push out that thought of her head.   

“What the hell happened to you?” Stark asked. She gave him a deadpan glare and didn’t reply because, it was not necessary. _The worst tragedy since 9/11,_ one news channel had said..“You could have called me, y’ know? You or Rogers. I could have helped.”

“You never get tired of people feeding your ego, Stark?” Natasha spat, her vision fuzzy.

“Of course, my ego. You surely knew about the Helicarriers that _I_ helped to weaponize better than me, right Natasha? Sure the agents condemned and the Helicarrier falling in Potomac causing… How many? A hundred and seventy deaths? Was that all a strategy? Your little show in the Defense Department too?” He snapped and she snorted, getting up off the counter. Her steps were uncertain and wavering as her head pounded.

“Says the man that flipped off the government when they began to push for his toys,” Natasha could felt the blood soaking through and dripping out from her improvised bandage.

“I was _dying_ , Romanoff,” Stark hissed, giving her a hateful glare. Of course he hated her. Why wouldn’t he? The Black Widow had woven her webs and made him useless to SHIELD without his tech. ”I didn’t give a shit what the consequences were back then. But you? You just painted a bull’s-eye in your back. Not only with US government, who, I’m sure you know, has no love for Russian spies, naturalized or not. But also with Hydra and SHIELD and your own best friend.”

Natasha slapped him, her lips in a tense line. He didn’t react at it – _did he?_ – just staring at her with… With, _what_? Hate? Pity?

 _Laura was shot in the the temple. She is in intensive therapy,_ Clint’s angry, tearful voice filled her mind. _What were you thinking, Nat?_

 _Never waver,_ Madame’s voice had said. _Never get attached._

“I have seen many regimens fall, Stark.” Her own voice sounded wavy, heated. “This is nothing. I know what I am doing. Don’t pretend… don’t pretend... ” Natasha was breathing hard, she felt a hand on her temple.

“For fuck’s say, Natasha, you’ve had an infected wound this whole time?” Tony’s voice came from somewhere. Low pitched, angry, _worried._ Her eyes were closing.

 _Sloppy,_ her teacher scolded her in her mind.

“They’re  in that building, Ms. Romanoff,” Jocasta warned her in the headphone. Natasha blinked a couple of times, trying to set her objective straight. There wasn’t time for distractions.

The agents had been abandoned to die after being tortured. She had always despised Hydra’s tendency  to play with their targets. Why leave them to die and risk their escape? How dumb. She aimed her bites when she got in anyway. It _could_ been a trap.  

Randall was tied to a chair, face purple and covered in blood, her hair in greasy black curls. The other body on the floor must be Fraser. Nat bent over the man and placed a hand on his throat; he was still alive but just barely.

“Come to finish the job, traitor?” Randall was glaring at her from the chair. Her voice had a marked English accent. “Your friends decided we haven’t been through enough agony? Your terrorist American friend didn’t have enough “Hydra monks” dead?”

“There are others?” Natasha asked, ignoring her insults. The majority of the living agents always screamed at her or insulted her – at least the ones that knew that she had released the data. She had grown used to it. Ignoring the woman’s anger, Natasha asked her again while checking Fraser for deadly wounds.

“They had their fun with us and then left us here,” Randall spat. “Not all of us are important enough to survive or even to be killed properly.”

“You have to help me with him,” Nat had to be quick before the woman broke from mental exhaustion. “We have to tend your wounds and go to a safe place.”

“Or I could kill you,” Randall groaned when she helped her to stand up. “We wouldn't be here if it wasn’t for you.”  

“You also can’t leave this place without me. Up.”

They arrived to a little motel in Brucelas a short time after that. Natasha was unsure of taking them to a hospital. Insignificant or not, she didn’t want to take risks until they were safe.

“Where did an assassin learn how to stich?” Randall asked her while she was doing so with a cut in her forehead.

“Iran.” Natasha’s voice was cold mechanical. “When I first joined to SHIELD they made me go undercover as a nurse. I had to learn quickly for that.”

“Did you ever think that you'd fix up anyone besides your own sorry skin?“ Randall closed her eyes hard as the needle passed through her skin.   

“No,” Natasha murmured. “I never thought I would bring any kind of good to the world.”

Marcus Fraser regained consciousness that night, and to Nat’s luck he didn’t try to kill her. The spy explained to them what they were going to do after they were recovered and left them in their room; she had registered them in the motel as a married couple to reduce suspicion.

Back in her own room, the Black Widow sighed, resting her head in her hands and looking at the file that Tony had given her after showing her the videos and messages that the Hydra agents had sent showcasing what they’d done to the innocent agent’s families.

She had awaked half seated on a chair of the kitchen in the Stark Tower after having almost passed out on top of Stark. A week without sleeping and a stab in her side combined with emotional distress was not the right combination for going to confront her teammate or her best friend screaming at her in the middle of the night.

Tony was on bended knee at her feet taking off the bandage that she had applied sloppily after her attack. Natasha listened to him sighing and trying to pick her up. A primal panic had took over mind, and her hand gripped his wrist hard.

“No hospital,” her voice came out huskier than normal. God, how much had she slipped to end up in that state?

“You have an infected wound in your side,” Stark replied with unusual calm. Weren’t they fighting just minutes ago?

“No hospital!” she choked again. The man took a deep breath, letting her go. Then he took the first aid kit and helped her to took off her shirt. Natasha contained a scream while he cleaned the wound. His face was serious and intense. Natasha hadn’t seen a face like that one since Phil’s “death”. She remembered slapping him, just minutes ago. Was that real? It seemed since he had a little mark on his cheek. “I’m sorry for-”

“Don’t worry,” he cut her off without looking at her.”It’s not the first time that a woman has slapped me and won’t be the last I guess.” He was trying to use a jokey tone but failed and sounded harsh. The redhead hissed when he began to suture the wound properly shut.

“Your girlfriend doesn’t mind that you are alone with a half-naked woman at this hour?” Her face hurt when she tried to smile. Nat knew about Stark’s new girlfriend, an employee of his company. Brunette, pretty; young too. But she couldn’t judge in that way due to her past.

“She is not the jealous type and unless she suspects that I have a weird blood kink that I’ve never told her about I doubt she’ll mind.” Despite his tone the spy could tell he wasn’t buying the casual conversation. “She must be sleeping, kinda deserves it right now. She has been helping Maria with a lot of trouble.”

Stark seemed cautious about speaking about Wanda Maximoff in front of Natasha. Maria… Maria was not a mystery, she probably wanted to kill Natasha, too. Her mind went to the mental image of Laura laid up in intensive care, and she let out a cry of pain from more than just the touch of the needle. She closed her eyes and almost jumped when she felt Tony’s calloused hand on her thigh. He apologized in an offhanded way as he focused on the needle and thread.

“Where does a billionaire learn to stitch wounds?” Nat tried to focus her attention on the window rather than looking at him.

“Afghanistan,” he said. “Yinsen wanted me to know how to do it in case of the Ten Rings killing him first. I asked Bruce to teach me how to do it better while we were working here.”  

He kept working as if she was one of those incredible machines to fix quickly; murmured another sorry when putting her nose on its right place. Trying to joke that not even broken bones would make her less beautiful but the humor didn’t touch his eyes. The poison of the situation and the general distrust between them was still there even when the both avoided talking about it. He handed her some ibuprofen for the fever. Natasha felt herself be picked up and left in a bed. The week without sleeping was taking its toll.

When she woke up, Tony talked to her seriously. He told her that Jarvis had intercepted most of the worst part of her own personal history and destroyed it but that there were still agents dying because of the leaks - because of her actions. Steve apparently had just vanished from Earth and as always – Tony’s voice was disdainful saying that – he wouldn’t pick up when the billionaire was calling him. So he put a folder in her lap, saying that the agents still not confirmed dead were there, out in the world, suffering probably the same or worst destiny as hers.

 _I got red in my ledger,_ Nat had repeated in her mind while taking the files, preparing to take a new mission. Tony’s hand grabbed her wrist, and his dark eyes studied hers deeply.

“Can I trust you with this?” He didn’t need to explain. Can I trust you to call? Can I trust that you will trust me? Can I trust that more people will not end up killed because of you?

“Yes,” she had said it, and repeated it in her mind, again and again, and again. And in that little room in Brucelas she called him finally. The mission was done.

She could go home.

* * *

 

“A nightmare?” Wanda asked softly when she glanced Stark sitting in the edge of the bed. It was a standard question, of course. Slowly, she crawled in the bed and touched his shoulder. “Everything is alright, darling.”

“I know,” he gasped taking her hand. ”I know it’s alright.”

Wanda rested her head on his back and Stark took one of her hands and kissed it. Secretly, she was relieved that he just had horrible nightmares by his own and that she didn’t have to scratch deeper into the frightening halls of his mind. But he was more useful fueled by the paranoia.

With the Avengers again in the Tower, Wanda had encountered that her real mission was just beginning. While she was mostly away from the superhero team and excused herself from socializing to commit to her work or her studies in the university, the woman remained on their floor and observed carefully the behavior of the so said team.

Clint Barton was the only one that wasn’t there, given that the fall of SHIELD had almost killed his wife. Thor was a strange being but for some sense of instinct, Wanda decided to not look into his mind. Doctor Banner was in and out most of the time, always close to Anthony. His mind sometimes confused her; he had two in all the senses, and his fear for the beast that was inside was noted as an excellent advantage for the future.

Steve Rogers, the mighty Captain America was just as insufferable as her lover had frequently commented  or maybe more since Wanda took a little time to see inside his head the first time they met. His thoughts were full of somebody called Bucky, a woman called Peggy, the Second World War, and Hydra. A plastic smile had adorned the Scarlet Witch’ face when he shook her hand and his mind named her as “Stark’s could-be-his-daughter-ridiculously young girlfriend”. Otherwise she didn’t consider him a treat for her plans. He wasn’t close to Stark and didn’t have high opinion of the billionaire.

The first time that she saw the famous Black Widow was while she was being carried by Stark to one of the guest floors of the Tower. A stitch of worry had gone through Wanda’s chest in that moment as well as the thought that she maybe had been too confident considering the kind of man that Stark was. But when she noted that the woman was beaten up the anxiety disappeared. Stark explained afterwards to Wanda  what had happened and even with that, at looking at her lover’s mind, Wanda didn’t find many thoughts for the spy that were not frustration, distrust, and a normal dosage of worry. There was nothing that could affect her.

Wanda had, on the other hand, recognized that she couldn't keep going without establishing some boundaries for the few people that had affection for Anthony out of the company. He was well loved by the employees and that put her in a position of greater power. Colonel Rhodes was a real challenge. After returning from his missions the man had met her with a cool and professional glare, and his mind practically shouted at him that something was _wrong_ with Wanda. She oddly felt a strange admiration for the man, maybe because his fierce sense of protection for Anthony reminded her of Pietro.

She quit her position as intern to focus on her studies and her powers, while earning Maria Hill’s trust  The agent had become the principal contact between the Avengers, the new SHIELD, and the government. When the Avengers begun to disband the dregs of Hydra by themselves, the witch was now there, always trying to help her boyfriend’s friends and making poor Maria’s work easier. That had saved her life just a few days ago, when Maria asked her to organize some new files about the latest missions and in them she saw the castle and her city.

_Project Miracle. Human experimentation._

_Pietro Maximoff._

_Wanda Maximoff._

Her heart had almost stopped for a minute. Their names were among the dead cases, but they were still _there_ for someone to find. Trying to control herself, the witch deleted the names slowly. She felt as though she were erasing those two kids that had volunteered for their country from history. When Hill came back, Maximoff delivered the file with a smile.    

She was safe.

“You need to sleep a little more.” Wanda tried to pull him down as she laid in the bed, Stark gave her a tired smile and rested his head on her chest. “We have a busy day tomorrow.”

“You can always stay until I come back. We can go together,” he said softly. His next mission was in Sudan, and after that… The Avengers would be disassembling the Hydra base in Novi Grad, Sokovia. Wanda had felt an immense, weird pleasure delivering that file, giving one of his enemies the information to destroy another.

“It has been more than a year without seeing them, dear. My brother won’t wait more.” Indeed, she needed to see Pietro ungently. Zrinka sent her messages anyway. New riots were forming and Wanda’s twin was in every single one of them. He was also using his powers to thieve – in a Robin Hood style – despite Wanda sending them money every month.

“I can get him a passage if that’s a problem,” Stark murmured sleepily and the woman snorted. Pietro had a hard time accepting the money that Wanda sent to them that was the result of her own work. He would probably have an outburst using something paid for by Stark personally.

“No, Anthony, I told you; my necessities will be paid by my own money. I am not that kind of woman. Besides, I’ve been planning this trip for months. I want to see my family.” The real fact was that her brother had begun to press her about her own efficacy and the quality of her plans. Wanda wanted to tell him in person that he had to slow his heated mind. “And as my brother punched the last guy that I presented to him, I’m still unsure of letting you two know each other yet.” Her tone turned lighter. In a way that was true.

“Oh, yeah, how old were you at that time?” Stark was smiling. Good, he held no suspicion for her explanation of why she wanted to return to Sokovia.

“Sixteen,” Wanda said, smirking as he laughed. “Well, it was impressive. He chased the boy over houses just because he dared to kiss his little sister.”  

“I thought you were twins.”

“We are, Pietro just likes to pretend that he is the responsible one.”

“I’m not… saying that you can’t see your family,” Stark defended himself after a minutes of silence. “I’m just… Worried.” He sighed caressing the soft skin her arm. “We will be in a fight near there.”

“My brother’s house is outside the city, Anthony,” she lifted his chin with a long finger and leaned herself to kiss him with a smile. “Besides, I have told you this many times: I can protect myself.”   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The reason because Natasha had more time that Tony or Wanda in this chapter was because 1) I had to finish of addressing her destiny after the data dump because I made clear in the last chapter that half of the world wanted to chop her head off. And 2) Because I wanted to change some things about her relationship with the characters around since she is gonna be a kind of [Deuteragonist](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Deuteragonist) in future chapters. 
> 
> I actually think that, after Clint brought her to SHIELD, Natasha actually didn't kill anyone, just spying, and for that, she thinks that SHIELD was different to the organisation where she grew up. 
> 
> Clint's family being attacked after the data dump is maybe a unconscious shot-out to _The Ultimates_ or my disdain for that kind of magical protection that Clint's family seems to have over the other SHIELD agents. Why is Clint so special really? Also, yes, his relationship with Natasha going rocky is intentional. I never forgave him for forgiving Wanda out of the blue in canon and not giving two fucks about his best friend. 
> 
> **Timeline change note:**  
>     
> Natasha's search for the agents happens during January 2015, while her flashback in the Stark Tower is April 2014 just a little time after the data dump. So, yes, she did come back and lived in the Tower a few moths with the others at time for the battle of Sudan that was 25th April, 2015. The scene between Wanda and Tony is the two days before it. One day after that battle was the attack to the Hydra base in Sokovia.
> 
> We are officially inside _Age of Ultron_ now. 
> 
> Thanks for the reviews.


	6. Rhododendron

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _I'm bigger than my body_   
>  _I'm colder than this home_   
>  _I'm meaner than my demons_   
>  _I'm bigger than these bones_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> __  
> _And all the kids cried out,_  
>  _"Please stop, you're scaring me."_  
>  _I can't help this awful energy_  
>  _Goddamn right, you should be scared of me_  
>  _Who is in control?_
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> __Control_ by Halsey._  
> 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Music for this chapter: [_A Bed of Ferns_ from _The Piano_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF0bRznSrmU&index=14&list=PL6E255E2C46BF3B51), [_Time for Bed_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWljoJthwSs&list=PLb57PLZIuPw6T1Cf_Q74yzzVCfMxXSOO_&index=12) _and[ _I Know How To Make You Sleep_ from _Anna Karenina (2012)_.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3OkvsOv6h0&list=PLb57PLZIuPw6T1Cf_Q74yzzVCfMxXSOO_&index=20) _
> 
> _Rhododendron:[The Victorians labeled this bloom "beware," — which is actually appropriate, since they're quite poisonous](http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/gardening/g2503/surprising-flower-meanings/?slide=6)._
> 
> _[Wanda's outfit.](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/49/9f/d0/499fd041a9e4e382140e3359a70316eb--maxi-coat-coat-dress.jpg)_
> 
> _Thanks to my beta, Firelord65._

 

Wanda was surprised that the Novi Grand airport was still standing when she had bought her ticket. Of course in their little country, an airport was a luxury, an unnecessary one because most people just entered from the countries that surrounded it. She remembered that in early memories that was a common joke said by her father; Sokovia was in the middle of everything and for that, the tourist could always get a little ride into it going to their destination. 

The truth was that her tiny country had very little to offer and being in the middle of everything was exactly the problem: perfect to get in the middle of everyone troubles.

When Wanda had left Sokovia, she had thought that when she returned she would  be welcomed by her family and that, for some reason, all the problems that had marked her city would be gone. That with the Avengers and Hydra destroyed, she could come back and have a normal life, tend her patients. Maybe even get married. 

Stark’s face appeared like a virus in her mind, her warm smile as they said their goodbyes when he had parted to Sudan. Wanda shook her head trying to get that silly thought out of her mind. 

She hadn’t imagined that one year later she would be still in that position, but the  _ freedom _ that that year had given her to explore the reach of her powers was really worthy of the time. 

“Wanda!” Costel’s voice made her turn around and Wanda almost fell when the young boy ran straight to her to hug her. Zrinka was coming behind him with an amused smile in her pretty face. 

“Hey, little one, have you been good for your sister?” 

“She says that I can’t go with Pietro when he goes out!” The boy said making puppy eyes, winning a laugh from Wanda and a serious glare from his sister. 

“Yes, because you two have a tremendous talent to put yourself into trouble. How are you, sister?” Zrinka kissed Wanda’s cheek and helped her with her bag. Costel took the brunette’s hand and they begun to walk out of the airport. 

“Are we officially sisters now?” Wanda teased and Zrinka made a snort. 

“Well, that depends of your brother.” Her friend’s eyes became serious. Wanda asked about her twin, and her friend told her that Pietro would return home at night. 

“He seems to be doing that a lot, right?” Zrinka nodded and Wanda tightened her lips while looking through the taxi’s window. That day seemed to be calm - it had been a miracle that they could find a taxi - but the broken buildings and the remains of extinguished fires were a clear prove that Hydra had been working again on their streets. 

Zrinka’s apartment was prettier than the last time. Her friend had obviously used the money wisely and it that time it did look like a home and not safe house for criminals. 

“He is doing a lot of… things close to the castle.” Zrinka’s face was serious. She had waited until Costel had going to do his homework to speak and asked Wanda to help her to prepare the lunch. “I told him many times to not bring anything of the things that he steals to our house. I don’t know what he is planning, but when he goes for days he comes full of leafs and sometimes injured, with  _ bullet _ wounds, Wanda. I’ve told him that we need to move to the country, but he doesn’t listen. He starts to talk about you -” Wanda almost cut herself with a knife as it jumped in her hand ”-and I find it ridiculous because you  _ left _ ! You left and you have studies and a good life out of these political nonsense in which he gets involved. He uses his power for I-don’t-what, and I am worried sick that Costel will want to follow in his footsteps.” 

Wanda admired Zrinka in so many ways, the strength that she had conserved growing up in a war and having to rise her little brother were the first of them. The other was how deeply she loved Pietro. Given how protective the Maximoff twins were with each other, unlike her Pietro, Wanda would have happily carried on with their plans alone and let her twin and her childhood friend live together in some place out of the chaos of Sokovia. She would have happily given them that chance. 

But even though she wanted to, she couldn’t. Because in every word, in every act there were things that the twins could only understand on their own. Their powers, the promises that they had made; the sacrifices. For Zrinka they were something that was putting his boyfriend’s life in danger. For them, their powers were a reward for every liar and every bit of pain that they had endured to finish what had started when they were children. 

But even with that, Wanda couldn’t speak to her best friend and comfort her without scaring her. Zrinka only knew that Wanda had parted from home looking for education, not revenge. 

“I’m sorry,” her said friend lowered her head. “I shouldn’t have talked like that. He is your brother. This trip was supposedly to be to talk about your studies in America, not our… relationship troubles.” Zrinka  ran a hand across her face, forcing a smile. “How is America? The college?    
  
“You don't have to talk if you don't want too-”   
  
“No, no! I was being foolish. You- you said in your emails that you were still seeing that man, right? Pietro almost had a heart attack when he saw pictures of you together online.” Wanda smiled sharply remembering the first time that Pietro had called asking the meaning of the photographs that the Times had published after she had just one month together with Stark. ”You are still good? Is he nice with you?”    
  
“Yeah, he is,” she couldn't even lie about that. He was a monster, making weapons for other monsters to use, but with her he was eternally loving.     
  
_ Damn him. _   
  
“Who would have thought that you will be dating someone who's name is Stark,” Zrinka said while sorting the plates. “I remember when we were small there was no name that you hated more. It was not healthy-”    
  
“Of course it's not healthy to hate the man that destroyed your life,” a sarcastic voice interrupted her. ”It’s better fuck him, that's what you mean?”    
  
Zrinka's face had gone white when Pietro appeared. Wanda couldn't say that her brother looked worse than when they were under the experiments, but in some ways she also couldn't say better. His hair was almost complete white, with the exception of a few days beard, and he had dry blood smeared on his face from a cut on his temple. He had been fighting or running. Or both.    
  
“Hello, darling,” his girlfriend said with her face hardened. ”Will you greet our guest so kindly too?”       
  
“Costel says that he needs help with his homework,” Pietro said as he ignored her. Wanda was sure that Zrinka was two seconds away from slapping him, not that she would have faulted her. The witch was tempted to do same.    
  
Zrinka left the kitchen not without sending a hurt glare to the twins. Pietro didn't look at her, his attention was still on Wanda.    
  
“How can you speak to her like that?” Goodness, she would have never imagined that those would be her first words to her brother after not seeing him for over a year.    
  
“I'm sorry.” He didn't sound as he was. “I'm just not in the mood to hear you gossip about how wonderful your time is with that killer. Not while I am here asking myself if I will know if you're alive the next morning.”    
  
“What are you talking about?” Wanda spat.   
  
“You know sister, when you left I thought that we had a plan.”    
  
“I am executing our plan.”    
  
“Don't you mean yours?” Pietro snorted looking at her up at down. Wanda knew how she looked like, her fancy red dress, her dark hair longer, healthier in sultry waves. Her pale face with scarlet lipstick. “Snow White Fashion”, Maria had said to her once. 

“A  _ year _ , Wanda. You have me worried sick for a year. Knowing that you're in the house of our enemy risking your life, and instead of just cutting the man's throat like any normal person would. But no, instead of that I just see that you-   
  
“I explained you how my work was,” Wanda said, furious. “I can't just do things like we did in the base, I need ti-”   
  
“But you can! I saw you doing it, of course you can!” he screamed approaching at her. “I saw you well that night, little sister. You ended those two monks like if they were made of paper. Are you telling me that you can't repeat that around Stark or the other freaks' necks? Or have you just shown yourself to be the kind of person that just surrenders herself to pretty clothes and a big mansion? Do you think that you can buy me into indifference?”   
  
Wanda slapped him. It was just a second, a blink of rage and she suddenly had almost thrown her twin against the table. She had never hit Pietro, not even playing when they were children. They had always been caring and supporting with each other. Always hunting  whoever dared to hurt the other. No like this, never like this.   
  
Pietro glared her,horrified and surprised, and the brunette lifted her own hand. It was glowing red. No, it wasn't supposed to be like that.    
  
But the rage didn't vanish.    
  
“Every penny that I had send to you is mine.” Her voice sounded cooler and deeper than she expected. “I'm trying to give you a better life than you will get robbing or killing yourself in the riots.”    
  
“You know why I steal?” Pietro groaned. “I give everything to the people of Sokovia. The people that are starving because of the government that you also used to hate. Remember that?”    
  
“Don't try to tell  _ me  _ about the situation of Sokovia, Pietro,” the woman hissed. “You know nothing. What do you think that is going to happen exactly? Do you think that no one will see you one day? That none of the people that you gift trinkets will be happy to sell you for a better life? You think that you alone can bring down a system that had been rotten for years? Do you think, brother, that this a fairy tale where you help some people and for that human nature will stop being self serving? That you are that special?!”    
  
She was raising her voice now, and every month, every word of every report, analysis and history book about the situation of her country was showing up in her mind. Sokovia was doomed politically and economically. Doomed because it was small, in the middle of everything, and their system was corrupt. And it would be always corrupt because it was too rotten to fix it. Pietro was trembling, she knew that her words had hurt him. But it was the truth. Even in the rebellions, they were never especial, just numbers for another person in a higher position to lose.    
  
“You- you started this,” the young man said with his voice breaking while he pulled himself straight . “You made up this plan. You wanted Hydra-”   
  
“Hydra will be out of our streets that I promise you,” Wanda hissed. “But don't you dare to play innocent. Maybe- maybe our pain will always lead to more bombings but you were the one who proposed entering in the rebellion. You were the one who trusted List in the first place. The one who told me that I have to be strong to fight!” 

She took a deep breath. “What do you think that I am doing? Do you know how much I have used my powers and I am still discovering them? Sokovia is doomed but we can still win a bigger fight. I'm not running around and stealing things like you, Pietro. I'm waiting and seeing things that you don't.”    
  
“And what would be that?” Her brother spat. Wanda's eyes grew red while she went close to him and pulled him into a hug. She knew why he was acting like this he was scared for her because to her twin, Wanda would always be the little girl that he had protected from the missile. But she wasn't, not anymore.   
  
“More power,” she whispered on his hear. “And possibility.”     
  


* * *

 

The dinner was quiet and tense. Zrinka didn't forgive immediately what had happened and left the twins alone after just giving Wanda a peck on the cheek. She didn’t even spare a second look to her boyfriend, who seemed to start to regret his rudeness. Wanda told herself to not intervene in the discussion, after all it was his brother's life and for much that she loved him, he had behaved like a asshole. They stayed in the middle of the little living room, almost in the dark. Wanda looked through the window as little lights of explosion appeared in the distance.    
  
“What exactly do you do when you go to the castle?”   Pietro frowned at the question but then sighed and rested his head on his hands.

“I try to sabotage their operations in the city. I... I ruin their guns, incapacitate their soldiers-”

“But you don't kill them,” Wanda stated coolly. She needed to know if Pietro hadn't crossed that line yet.

“No, I don't.” He seemed to get nervous about the question.“I don't know exactly if they are using the scepter to convince the soldiers or not and-”

“They don't,” the woman interrupted him harshly. “The soldiers are loyals to them, otherwise they wouldn't have them in such important project. What about the experiments? Did they continue after our 'passings'?” She snorted.

“They tried... I know that they took more volunteers, but they all died.”

“Then he was right, Strucker. We were his miracle.” Wanda got up of the sofa and looked through the window. A months ago, she had been in the same position: looking down on the streets of Novi Grand, with a bigger power and a decision of how use it. Months ago her mind had been clouded by anger, indignation and fear. But now it was clear. She had had time to think to practice. Now she had her brother close, and her enemies soon would all be together in a single place.

It was perfect.

“You're going tomorrow too?” The question came out without malice or reproach.

“Yes.”

“Then take me with you. The Avengers will be there tomorrow.”

And they were indeed.

Wanda heard Doctor Banner's beast roaring when she crossed the threshold of the place that had been her jail and her home for those few weeks. Her hands moved gracefully and she made a little hole in the force shield. They were using the scepter to power it. Clever, but not enough.

Pietro was outside, doing his usual, but this time, it was with a different target. Though he wasn't helping the Hydra soldiers, Wanda was sure that he wasn't giving the Avengers an easy time either. Good, she needed them out. She knew  _ what _ the thing was in the castle that they wanted.

“What do you mean that List is dead?!” A man's voice exclaimed downstairs to then break in fear. “Alright, try to hide everything that you can. Tell them that they win. We surrender.”

Oh no, she was not going to let him do that. Just a thought in her own mind and doors in the room closed suddenly making the Baron jump and turn around.

With a smile in her face, the Scarlet Witch approached him and delighted herself with the fear that the man that had lied to her ejected. She knew how he remembered her: a small girl in a cell. Childlike, small, harmless. And how she looked in that moment, pale, her eyes red but centred on him, her big red coat making her appear even taller. The woman that Baron Strucker was seeing was the avenging ghost of the girl that he had wronged.

Or at least, that was what she read in his mind.

“Wanda.” The Baron was shivering, taking a step back for every that she took further. “Wha- What is this? Wha-”

“Are you alright, Baron? You seem a little agitated.”

“You... you were dead. You both were dead...”

“Not quite.” Wanda snorted as red strings begun to flow from her hands. The man looked at her with horror and begun to shake even more, his voice was high pitched.

“W-w-Wait, Wanda. Wait you can't kill me, I- I gave you the powers that I promised. You- you are fine!” Wanda didn't even blink as she moved her hands and the strings were slowly threading around Strucker's throat. “No. No! Please! Please Wanda, they are here! The real enemy is here. The man that killed your parents is here! You can't, you c-” the Hydra leader hacked and coughed as he fought to breath. is eyes filled with terror as he stared at the  woman that he had helped to create.  _ My miracle, _ he had called her smiling.

“You mistook my anger with foolishness Baron,” Wanda whispered, her red-green glare never leaving the man's as the life went out of him. “I know exactly who is here, and who my enemies are, but I am not loyal to anyone but myself.”

She left the corpse there. Surely they would find it. She still had one more thing to do.

Minds were easy to track when one spent more time with them. Wanda saw him enter. The scepter was there like a trophy ready to be taken. Strucker and their men couldn't be clever enough to clean the place before.

“...Yeah and I have... something bigger.” He didn't see her. He was unarmored, probably having left the suit to guard his back. Without it, he was defenseless. Wanda had him her palm.

She could kill him in that moment...

She realised it, as she saw him explore the place and look at the Leviathan with newfound anxiety, that she could just kill Stark in that moment. Just like with Strucker. Or just torture him there, in that basement. Just close the secret door where no one could find him and make him hers until his mind would turn to dust. 

Pietro would have said that she was being dramatic, that just strangle Stark or snapping his neck would be enough and maybe, she maybe could do that too... But she wouldn't, she wasn't her brother. She didn't like the quick answer, the simple solution. With Anthony dead, Wanda would be unable to be close enough to her enemies again.

“Thor, I got the eyes on the prize.”

No, she had something  _ better. _

It was strange to be with him in that place. In the place where everything had begun...

_No_ , Wanda corrected herself. _Everything began with the bombings._ Her hands moved on the sides of his head, red mist flowing from them. Stark froze and dropped to his kneels but his mind was still working, faster than ever. The woman was sure of that. This was not a simple dream or a face in a circling dance. This was his sense of _reality_ shaking itself into ruin, she was assuring that. His fear, his panic, his loneliness, just like hers fourteen years ago. Wanda kneeled behind him and rested her head against his back.

Stark was feeling an opposite of what Wanda had felt. It was not fear of dying. It was fear of other people dying because of him. Wanda saw the so called team, one by one, and herself. All dead. 

_ Oh, my eternal antagonist, always contradicting me even in the most insignificant things,  _ Wanda smiled as she ran her nails over her lover's chest and listened to his troubled breathing. Then she got up before he snapped and stood up sweating. The Scarlet Witch was safely away from him, watching while her brother ran to her side.

They saw how Stark called his gauntlet and approached to the scepter. Wanda put a hand on her brother's chest to stop him.

“You are just gonna let him take it?” Pietro gritted his teeth. Wanda just watched Anthony walking like a robot, his mind screaming in fear...

A smile crossed her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter came quicker than I thought. Thank you for the feedback. 
> 
> Okay, we got where the mess of a relationship that they have in the original canon begun. And again who has the power here? I'll give you a clue... Not Tony!
> 
> With Wanda's disbelief for the political future of her country I tried to paint how a year away from it and looking the things from another perspective has got her that they can't be the righteous heroes that save Sokovia from their own politicians. Even with Hydra gone, Wanda and Pietro were depicted as rebels and the whole "joining to have powers and save their country" was to derroque the Sokovian government, which I think it would have mixed results. But Zemo says in CW that Sokovia was a failed state, so the problems didn't begun with Hydra messing around. Albeit the twins -well, mostly Pietro now- think that they have one less problem without them. 
> 
> The change in Wanda's "choreography" during the vision was directly inspired for Elizabeth Olsen' body lenguaje. Just look again, behind him she really looks scary. And the new clothes are to show: this is not baby Wanda. 
> 
> Enjoy!


	7. Lobelia

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Lobelia:** Arrogance, malevolence
> 
> Music for this chapter: [_Cloud Altas Opening Title_ from... well _Cloud Altas_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8VpvncEuEg&index=2&list=PLsR1TWq-eGPwlHk6CDmdqVAci6xbd9nu5) and [_Otto Gross_ from _A Dangerous Method_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBjOZx2bzzg&list=PL25ABC8BDAE0202DB&index=7)

Bruce felt the freezing Sokovian weather biting his limbs when he opened his eyes.

“Hey, Doc? Bruce? Everything is alright. We have to go back to the Quinjet,” Natasha said as she helped him to rise and patted him on the shoulder.

“Did I hurt somebody?” Standard question of course.

“Just the ones who were threatening us.” Bruce couldn't tell if she was lying to be nice or because they just shouldn't have to care about the soldiers of a terrorist organisation. The Other Guy groaned. He liked Natasha. Punny Banner was too much of a drama queen for him.

In the Quinjet, Thor was touching his earphone and groaning. Nat smiled at him and Bruce went to fetch a sweater and find his earphones. The other guy wasn't exactly calm yet.

“Is everyone here?”Steve asked while entering on the Quinjet. Thor groaned and took his hammer.

“Stark is not answering. His communication cut out ten minutes ago.”

“What?” Steve snapped.

“Strucker?” Natasha asked while standing up from her seat. Rogers shook his head.

“Dead. NATO came for the others.”

“I'm going to go find him,” Thor said but a familiar sound stopped him in front of the door. The Iron Man suit landed and Tony came out of it clutching the sceptre with one gauntlet. “Where were you? You communication cut out.”

“Did it?” Tony replied with a mechanical voice that was more suitable for the armour than him. “Is everyone here?”

“We were waiting for you,” Steve hissed. Tony gave him a deadpan glare and gave the sceptre to Thor before taking his place in the pilot's seat.

“Are you okay, Tones?” Bruce asked, frowning and taking a seat away from where Thor was placing the sceptre. The last thing that he wanted was to be close to that thing with the other guy still ticking.

“Perfect, Brucie Bear. Perfect.” The Quinjet' turbines began to hum. “Is there a problem if I make a short stop to pick up Wanda from her brother's house?”

“Of course not,” Natasha said, giving raised eyebrows to Steve before he could protest. Well, she was right. After all, it was Tony's plane.

Bruce sighed and put his earphones on, watching his teammates talk while Casta DDiva inundated his mind. Yes, the lullaby had worked perfectly, but he still had his doubts about using it in battle. It had to be Tony's idea after he had come back from South America, using some technique to calm down the Other Guy that wasn't just calling Veronica.

First, Bruce thought that it was impossible. When Natasha had offered to take on that role, he decided that it was madness. Even when he had come to appreciate Natasha as a teammate and friend, there was still a certain something that prevented him from trusting her. She had impressed him with her rescue missions after the SHIELD dump - which he had to admit was a  _huge_ surprise, considering that Rogers himself didn't speak up in public about the matter. It was after those missions that He flat out asked her why she was doing it when it was obvious that The Hulk had horrified her in the past. Her answer had been surprisingly sincere:

“The fact that I was scared is what made Loki almost win that day.” She hadn't been looking at him, just staring through the window in the lab. “I had promised you in my life that you would make it and I just... Ran away.”

“You would have died,” Bruce had said, winning a self-despicable smile from the Russian spy.

“No offence, Doc, but one year having my past mistakes chasing me has made me a little sick of running from them. If anything goes bad, I'll tell Tony to take my place. Deal?” She had offered her hand and Bruce knew what he was risking there; trusting another person with the Other Guy, a person that wasn't Betty or Tony. He really didn't want more people in danger but what was the price if he also could help people by controlling his alter ego and refused to do it?

Well, since that conversation, the “lullaby” as Tony had named it had worked perfectly. Of course, the first months of training had been terrifying, but his friends had assured him that it was working well, with the standard answer that the only deaths were those of their enemies. Bruce groaned when Thor told him leaving Sokovia that the “gates of Hell were filled with the scream of his victims.”

“And how is Clint?” Bruce asked Natasha and the redhead gave him a mild smile.

“He is coming to the party, but not staying,“ she said smiling a little. ”Laura says that I can go to see the kids when I want to but... it's still difficult. After what happened and I... I'm going to have a new goddaughter but I don't know how one day I will explain to her that her mother almost died and lost the sight in one eye because of me.”

“You are too hard on yourself,” Bruce remembered how many times Betty had told him that, not that it had worked on him.

Natasha kept the smile but it didn't reach her eyes. “No, Doc. I'm just being fair.”

They stopped at a building on the outskirts of Novi Grand, and Tony got out for roughly half an hour. Steve began to pace in the Quinjet and mutter darkly about Tony using their mission's time for dates.

“Leave it, Steve” Natasha reprimanded him. As though he had been called, Tony appeared with his girlfriend carrying a bag.

“Gentlemen, Ms. Romanoff,” Tony said by way of introduction. Bruce smiled tightly and Natasha gave the woman a nod; Steve did the same while giving his standard  _ma'am_. Thor kissed her hand. The brunette gave a shark-like smile and took a seat. Tony kissed the crown of her head while returning to the pilot's chair.

Bruce rested his head in the back of his own seat and put the music back on, but a groan thundered in his head.

_Red Woman bad._

“Something wrong, Bruce?” Nat put a hand on his shoulder and Bruce just nodded quickly. She couldn't be the “Red Woman.” He clearly recalled that the Other Guy calling her “Little Widow.” The scientist frowned, wondering who was the woman that had suddenly upset the Other Guy.

Then he saw Wanda Maximoff smiling when the guys began to talk about the farewell party. She hadn't spoken the entire ride, just sitting quietly wrapping herself in her red long coat.

 _Okay, this is ridiculous,_ he thought when they landed.  _I don't know what you hit your or our head with, but Wanda Maximoff is just Tony's civilian girlfriend. She isn't a threat to us, Big Guy. Unless you're scared that she will want to treat us when she has her psychiatric license._

Wow, clearly the lullaby  _was_ giving him some liberties with the Hulk. Since when Bruce dared to snark at him?

 _Tin Man hurt,_ his alter ego groaned.  _Red Woman hurt Tin Man. Red Woman bad._

 _Okay, okay, stop this._ Bruce felt a growing panic. Luckily he saw Tony and Wanda leave for their floor and sighed.  _She is a civilian. We don't hurt civilians, you hear me? And no matter how much Tony likes you, Big Guy, I don't think that he will appreciate you giving relationship advice._

He stayed with Helen, who wanted to show him the new advances with the Cradle. Bruce forgot about that weird internal conversation as he settled into life at the Tower. Doctor Cho's work with the Cradle was still something that he couldn't believe, something that he would call a miracle but had proved to be very real when she showed him that combined with the Extremis they could fix that giant hole in Tony's chest. Something that was medically,  _hell_ , scientifically impossible, but there it was. Even when she was still a little condescending about it, Helen seemed very content about using any injured Avenger as “lab rat”, as Tony had joked.

“Bruce?” Tony showed up later. “You got a moment?”

“What's the rumpus?” Bruce asked setting his teacup on a table. Tony put a hand on his shoulder and smiled tightly.

“Well, the sceptre. You see, we were wondering how Strucker got so inventive. So I've been analysing the gem inside. You may recognise...” Tony took a projector and an orange hologram appeared around Bruce, the doctor gave a nod.

“Jarvis.”

“Doctor,” the AI replied, polite as always.

“Started out, Jarvis was just a natural language UI,” Tony said pointing at Jarvis. ”Now he runs the Iron Legion. He even runs more of the business than anyone besides Pepper.”

“Oh.”

“Top of line.”

“Yes.”

“I suspect not for long,” Jarvis said with a mild sarcastic tune. Tony turned around and took a sample from the sceptre' code.

“Meet the competition.”

“It's beautiful.” Even Jarvis seemed small and simple compared with what they were seeing, the program was like a hologram of a brain.

“If you have to guess, what does it look like it's doing?” Tony asked.

“Like it's thinking,” Bruce replied without taking the eyes from the hologram. “I mean this could be... It's not a human mind. I mean look at this.” He pointed the image. “They are like neurons firing.”

“Down in Strucker's lab I saw some fairly advanced robotics work,” Tony said. “They deep-sixed the data but I gotta guess that he knocking on a very particular door.”

“Artificial intelligence,” Banner whispered in a mixture of interest and horror. An artificial intelligence in the hands of Hydra?

“This could be it, Bruce. This could be the key to creating Ultron,” Tony murmured looking at the blue hologram intensely.

_What?_

“I thought Ultron was a fantasy,” Bruce replied, not understanding what his friend wanted to say. Wasn't he just talking about a Hydra scientist using the sceptre for an AI seconds ago?

“Yesterday it was.” Stark nodded. ”If we can harness this power - apply it to my Iron Legion protocol?”

Bruce took off his glasses as he looked at the blue hologram suspiciously and started to pace. “That's a man-sized 'if.’”

“Our job is 'if,'” Tony discussed. ”What if you were sipping margaritas on a sun drenched beach, turning brown instead of green? Not looking over your shoulder for Veronica.”

 _Low blow there, Tony._ “Don't hate, I helped design Veronica.”

“As a worst case measure, right?” Bruce nodded. “How about a  _best_ case? What if the world was safe? What if, next time aliens roll up to the club - and they  _will_ \- they couldn't get past the bouncer?”

“The only people threatening the planet would be people,” Bruce concluded and Tony took a deep breath.

“I want to apply this to the Ultron program but Jarvis can't download a data schematic this dense. We can only do it while we have the sceptre here. That's three days. Give me three days.”

“So you're going for artificial intelligence.”  _Based off a weird alien sceptre that was used to try to kill us. ”_ And you don't wanna tell the team?” Bruce felt a chill on his back, remembering the things that Clint had told them about that device.

Tony sighed, exasperated. Right, maybe the Other Guy was correct, something was happening. Tony may be reckless, but he was never this single-minded.

“Right. That's right. You know why? Because we don't have  _time_ for a city hall debate. I don't want to hear 'the man was not meant to middle' medley,” Tony hissed. “I see a suit of armour around the world.

“Sounds like a cold world, Tony,” Bruce said calmly, smiling, but Tony's face went stony.

“I've seen colder. This one, this very vulnerable, blue one, it needs Ultron,” he whispered and Bruce had enough.

“Where?”

“Pardon me?”

“Where have you seen colder?” Bruce asked approaching him. ”You are acting weird since you came back from that base. Like you're sleep walking. And the Other Guy also has these funny thoughts...”

“What? What is the Other Guy thinking?”

“... And you're suddenly trying to restart a project you doomed yourself because it was too advanced for us!” Bruce spat, trying to ignore the question and the Hulk groaning in his head for shutting him out. “What happened? Why are you suddenly so worried about finishing this?”

“Nothing happened, Bruce, I just... You know that I saw something inside that wormhole. That was  _real.”_

“Tony-”

“We've been too much time worrying about what is here, Bruce!” He snapped. ”I saw that Leviathan in Strucker's base and I sa- I  _realised_ that worrying about arms dealers is not the endgame...”

“A Leviathan? Tony, did you have a flashback while in that base? An attack?” Tony freaked out every time that even heard the about New York according to Rhodey just one year ago. What could have happened in a base full of Chitauri materials? Damn, maybe that was what the Other Guy was trying to say.

“Why do you ask that?”

“Because this worry that you are talking about is not  _you_ , it's a symptom of your PTSD...”

“It's not my damn PTSD,” Tony spat. Bruce sighed and shook his head. “And I thought that you weren't a therapist.”

“No, I am your friend and I'm not an  _idiot,_ Tony. We both know that is not smart to make risky decisions when someone is not in their right mind.”

Tony sighed and rested his body on the table, pinching the bridge of his nose between his eyes. Bruce did the same, taking his glasses off for a minute.

“Just... give it one try.”

 _“Tony,_ ” Bruce groaned but froze at what he was seeing. Tony was looking at the sceptre again and he looked  _terrified._

“I promise that I won't touch the subject again, Bruce. But, I  _need_ to know that this won't work to completely give up on it. Just one try.”

Bruce sighed again. He knew that his friend had a point about the alien tech opening the door to AI, but working with that  _thing_ could be just as dangerous as it was promising. But... without the sceptre, they wouldn’t be able to even dream of accomplishing the goal.

“Okay.”

Bruce glared at the sceptre feeling nauseous and remembering every bad thing that that thing had brought on them and the world. He hoped that they just failed and left the subject in the past. And for a while, they did just that.

But then the party happened.

“Who sent you?” Thor asked the Iron Man suit let tilted his head and Tony's voice came out.

_I see a suit of armour around the world._

“Ultron.” The name came from his mouth. He looked at Tony who was just staring at the suit, pale.

_No, no, no, no, no, no, no. How is he active?_

“The Avengers' extinction,” that evil voice coming from the sceptre said.

_I had strings, but now I'm free..._

“He also said that he killed somebody,” Clint said. They were all reunited in the lab looking for what Ultron had taken.

“There wasn't anyone else in the building,” Maria said.

“Yes, there was.” A hologram was projected with Tony's empty voice. A shattered, still,  _orange_ hologram.

“ _What?_ This is  _insane,_ ” Bruce whispered looking at the pieces of the program around him. How could a new, barely created program do _that_?

“Jarvis was the first line of defence,” Steve said closing his arms and looking down. “He would have shut Ultron down. It makes sense.”

“No. Ultron should have assimilated Jarvis. This isn't strategy. This is... _rage_.”

Why rage? Why would Ultron be so angry?

And then, in a blink, Thor’s firm steps interrupted the conversation.

And Bruce _froze._

 _We are a time bomb._ His own words sounded in his head when Thor lifted Tony by the throat. The Other Guy groaned.

“It's going around,” Clint said with a snarky tone.  _What?_ He saw Natasha taking a step but then stood frozen. Helen ran to the other corner. He couldn't move. He  _didn't have_ to move.

_In. Out. In. Out._

“Come on, use your words, buddy,” Tony said, struggling for breath.

“I have more than enough words to describe you, Stark,” Thor snapped and Bruce’s blood ran cold.

“Thor. The Legionnaire.” Steve said.  _What? Just that, did you just see what I saw?!_ Bruce clenched his fists but couldn't help a sigh of relief when the demi god let Tony down.

They returned to talk about how finding the damn sceptre again and apparently that was more important than the fact that one teammate almost killed another and no one was going to mention it. Everything went back to Ultron, Helen asked why he was trying to kill them if they had built the program. Yes, they had built the program. Exactly, then why? And why they were acting as it had been intentional?

Tony began to laugh hysterically, and Bruce shook his head in panic clutching a closed fist against the table. Tony stood in front of Thor again and Bruce felt the Hulk groaning again.

“Tony, maybe this might not be the time,” Bruce wanted to scream. The idiot was putting himself in danger. They had proved not to care about the reasons if they had someone to blame in the moment.

“ _Really?_ ” Tony's voice was high pitched and defensive. “That's it. You just roll over, show your belly every time that somebody snarls?”

“Only when I've created a murder-bot,” Bruce whispered.  _Please, Tony, calm down. Just calm down._

“We  _didn't,_ ” Tony protested. “We weren't even close. We were close to an interface?!”

“Well, you did something right. And you did it right here,” Steve stated and Bruce wanted to laugh. Of course, they weren't going to listen to any explanation.

And neither were going to attack him because they knew that they were going to lose. That he was not the  _easy_ target.

Together, Steve said at one point. That was something funny considering what just happened. Together as a team, but they weren't a team.

They were a time bomb.

* * *

When Wanda arrived at the Tower, everything was a mess. The shattered glass was noticeable, even on the sidewalk. The penthouse was almost destroyed, Iron Legion suits shattered on the floor. She called Jarvis and nothing replied.

Wanda had been out for an important conference at her college and came back expecting to find a party, but this was certainly more interesting. She smiled, changed her clothes, and sat in her bed waiting for what was coming next.

She had left Sokovia with a sense of satisfaction for succeeding in holding down her brother's intentions of murdering Stark the moment that he appeared in the door of his apartment. Wanda wanted to know what the effects of her plans would be without her brother's impulsiveness. Leaving Zrinka to welcome her lover, the witch promised her twin that she would be in contact with him soon. She then locked the door of the living room because she wasn't sure of what he was going to do.

Costel had been squealing about having Iron Man in the house, which Wanda noted was a surprise for Stark, considering the negativity that her countrymen had for the Avengers. Zrinka was lovely, as always, because of course for her Stark was just Wanda's partner. She was too determined to go on with her life to remember that Stark's missile was the one that had destroyed her home.

Her lover had trapped her in a desperate hug when he saw her and Wanda couldn't resist a smile. Her powers were still playing with him, his mind still trying to adjust itself to the notion that she was alive, that his friends were alive, that the world was safe. His mind was screaming to remain in reality. It was glorious, how much her powers could do when applied to the right subject.

Wanda felt his lips brushing against her crown and he whispered, “Are you okay?” It took much of her control to not laugh. Quickly, she kissed Zrinka and Costel goodbye, citing Anthony's friends waiting in the Quinjet, but the truth was that she was not sure how much her brother would resist the temptation and just ruin her plans.

That followed an uncomfortable journey with the freaks talking about how they had beaten Hydra while Anthony was completely silent, only looking back every once in awhile. Wanda had smirked at seeing the captain talking about the criminal organisation destroyed. As he had really had a big hand in ended it more than just make fall a few bases and putting innocent agents in danger while killing more than saving. Even with all her distrust, she had to admit that the new agents deserved the credit for today’s win.

Doctor Banner had been staring for a minute, confused. Wanda had chucked and gave him her best warm smile, making the man shake his head and stop as if he had been thinking something not proper. She couldn't let the beast discover her.

Anthony made love to her when they arrived. He took her like she was made of porcelain. The vision of her broken body was still on his mind. Wanda couldn't lie to herself and think that she didn't enjoy every desperate kiss, every gentle touch. She couldn't lie to herself and think that every 'I love you' was just caused out of the vision because she wasn't an idiot.

But  _still,_ the witch had been too proud and impressed by her own work. Not even killing those two soldiers so long ago had been so satisfying or complex. That vision was a masterpiece. The insulated place destroyed by Anthony's supposed lack of efforts. Her own body laying on the floor with the Avengers. James Rhodes dying and claiming that his best friend should have done more. The genius’ fear had been so easy to mold and manipulate.

 _Now I have to wait,_ Wanda thought while watching him sleep over her naked chest, her hand tracing figures on his face.  _I have to wait and see what will happen._

She was changing her clothes after half an hour of waiting in the room when the door slamming kicked her out of her thoughts. Anthony was glaring her with big, panicked eyes.

“You are here,” he said almost picking her up in a hug. “Thank  _God_. He didn't go after you. Thank God.”

“Who?” Wanda asked breathlessly. Anthony shook his head and released her to sit on the bed, burying his hands into his hair. “What happened upstairs? Did Hydra attack again?”

“No. Yes. No! It was an attack but it wasn't Hydra. It wasn't a person,” he pulled his hair. “Or aliens. It was Ultron.  _Ultron.”_ Anthony's voice was just a trembling whisper like he was just realising the fact himself.

“Ultron?” Wanda repeated, kneeling in front of him and cupping his face in her hands. “What are you talking about? Ultron, your project? Why would he attack you? Wasn't he meant to be like Jarvis?”

“Jarvis... Jarvis is dead. Ultron killed him.  _I_ killed him. I don't know how it happened.” He was murmuring to himself more than answering. Wanda frowned noticing five purple bruises on his throat.

“Ultron killed Jarvis and he did this to you?” She asked, her tone serious. How much had changed in these three mere days? She hadn't expected something like this.

Stark let out a laugh that made her jump.

“No, it was Thor.”

“ _Thor?_ ”

“He was angry,” the man laughed hysterically, touching his throat reflexively and then covering his face with his hand. “He was angry. I think that his brother did the same in New York. Must be family tradition,” he babbled. ”He was angry. Everyone was angry. I told them. I told them that we couldn't... That we didn't-”

“Is that an excuse to attack you?!” Wanda spat. “A mistake and their first response is a physical attack? Is that what they call partnership? Is that what they call a team?”

“Because I did it!” he screamed, his breathing going faster and faster. “I- I bullied Bruce into continuing the project. I told him that we needed it and I... and I... “ Stark made a choked sound and Wanda pressed her lips in a line, raised up sitting alongside him and gently leaned him to put his head on her shoulder.

“It's alright, darling. Take a deep breath with me, okay? Deep breaths. You're safe with me. You'll always be safe with me.” Wanda buried her fingers in his hair and couldn't help but smile.

The Avengers were making her plan so easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thank you for the lovely reviews. 
> 
> Well, this chapter was one of the most difficult to write because I didn't have internet for days and I had to directly got the dialogue from the movie pausing and looking in slow motion to change the body language.
> 
> One of the things that change in this storyline is that Clint Barton is basically banned from my fic. He is dead weight on this story because his whole role in both AOU and CW are about Wanda. About taking her in, about "rescuing" her. At cost of his family and best friend who he _ignored_ after she was tortured by Wanda. So, since Wanda is an actual person with a brain in this fic, she doesn't need someone who tells her how good or bad she is.
> 
> About Bruce and Tony with Ultron: I found weird that Bruce discussed so little when Tony proposed to work with alien technology when he was furious about Fury doing the same. Also, since he doesn't have to care about Clint being injured, Tony was more deep in the shock than the movie.
> 
> The last scene with Wanda is to make clear that in this story the Avengers are gonna react at the visions like humans. Not like "humans when the plot demands."


	8. Furze

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _So embrace the darkness_  
>  And I will help you see  
> That you can be limitless  
> And fearless  
> If you follow me
> 
>  
> 
>  _Become the Beast_ , Karliene.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Furze:** Anger
> 
> Okay, music for this chapter: [_A Golden Crown_ from _Game of Thrones_ season 1.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hi33gfTND8U), [_That Is Why I Am On This Porch_ from _The Village_ soundrack](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwjwHYFBKtg) and [_Pay The Iron Price_ from _Game of Thrones_ soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzkqA4-4jIM)

Alone in their bedroom the morning after, Wanda woke up with smile. She didn’t have to concentrate to hear the strong emotions that were plaguing the place. Rage was the principal. Worry. Fear. The Avengers were being divided and it had been just one night. Talk about weak bonds.

She supposed that they were preparing themselves to find that creature. It was a kind of irony in a way, how Stark had stopped of making weapons for wars but he couldn’t stop his destructive nature. All he did ended in destruction, even if that destruction was strangely beautiful.

Wanda sighed getting up from the bed. They would fought against the creature and with each other. She would kept her cover effortlessly, calling her brother to show him how her patience and premeditation had worked. How their enemies would just destroy each other without the twins having to expose themselves.

It was the disposable phone that she used just to call Pietro. Wanda looked at it for two rings, blinking and trying to get over the coincidence. Then, frowning, she picked it up.

“Pietro.”

“Hello, Wanda,” A voice said. Wanda's whole body tensed up. It hadn’t been Pietro. “It’s not good for any of us for you to be discovered. So, I suggest that you don’t scream. The cameras in your room had been deactivated.”

“By whom?” Wanda tried to keep her voice calm, but the rage came through it like the blade of a knife. “Where is my brother? If this is a kidnapping I can-”

“Oh, this is not a kidnapping.” The man's voice was American and had some strange, metallic tone that she couldn't identify. “Your brother is here with me. We're waiting for you. In Sokovia. And about who I am... Well, I have the share your ideals: I want a better world. Without the Avengers.”

“Ultron.” The name came from her mouth by instinct. Every word that Anthony had told her about the creature that he had created, the things that the robot had said, and that voice seemed to fit perfectly. “Where is my brother?” She asked again stubbornly.

“You're too nervous for somebody that claims to have everything unders control, sister.” Her twin's voice came out suddenly with his usual sarcasm. Wanda felt a mixture of relief, fear, and rage.

“What the hell do you think you are doing, Pietro?”

“That is what I have been asking you,” he said coolly. “Over and over for a whole year. 'What are you thinking, Wanda?' But you don’t listen, you don't act... You just keep going around and wasting time instead of destroying those freaks once for all. Well, I have good news, sister.” Wanda could hear the smile in his voice, as well the resentment. “You won't have to dirty your hands with your beloved murderer's blood. We'll take care of him as well of the others.”

“Pietro, for goodness sake, are you listening to yourself?” Wanda spat, furious. “Are you really listening an AI? A _thing_ that literally was born _yesterday?_ ”

 _A child_. From everything that Anthony had told her about the AIs, that was what Ultron was. AIs were created with information but their personalities grew with their master's assistance; that was why Jarvis was so protective of Stark and Jocasta was always aware of Romanoff when she was out on her missions. Ultron had no one to explain him, no one to tell him. He had took information of everywhere and put it inside his own mind until it crushed it.

“He wants to end the Avengers, that's all that I care about,” Pietro said before cutting her off, disconnecting in the middle of her next sentence. Wanda threw the phone across the room in a fit of rage and drowned a scream in her pillow.

Her brother had been always too quick and impatient for, well, everything. But this was just the limit of stupidity for him. All the work, all the suffering in Hydra's hands, all the pretending that she had done was wasted because Pietro had decided to listen to a damn creature with Messianic delusions.

And the Avengers were going to Sokovia to track down Ultron.f they discovered Pietro then she was done, too. The idiot would talk and her cover would be gone... That was if they didn't just kill him first with all the commotion of fighting Ultron. Which would probably happen, since her brother never wanted to leave something in the middle. Especially if that included gloating against someone that he believed he had already beat. And oh, Pietro would not miss the opportunity to tell Stark a piece of the truth if he believed that Ultron would just end them all in a moment.

The woman groaned and buried her hands in her hair. Everything had fallen apart so quickly. Pietro would tell the truth and she would be considered an another enemy, all that work for nothing. They would lock her away…

_No._

No, Wanda wouldn’t let it. She wouldn’t let Pietro ruin everything and doom them both. Why was she panicking so easily? During their time with Hydra, the Scarlet Witch had taken care of them, and no one had known about them. No, she had to have discipline like that first day, to think. Nothing was over unless one of them was dead.

Wanda looked at her hands and for a moment she let the red magic show, moving her fingers in the combinations of her spells. _Strings_ for her puppets. Strings that she was still controlling. Strings that couldn’t be cut.

 

* * *

 

Tony hadn’t slept all night except for two hours in which he had passed out from exhaustion over one of the tables of the lab. With Bruce, he had been trying to decipher Ultron’s madness, but his friend had just come to the conclusion that the program had just took his intentions in a wrong way. The engineer couldn’t believe that that was so simple. It _shouldn't_ be simple. That thing had activated himself while they were out of the room. He had just decided that they were the problem. Ultron should have had no coordination because they _hadn’t_ programmed any. And the fact that he had killed Jarvis…

Tony slammed his hand against the keyboard.

How? How was it possible that a framework had just turned in a fully sentient being out of nowhere? How was it possible that Ultron had just... become _evil?_   

 _No, he is not evil._ Tony kicked that thought. _But he is not good either. He thinks that he is… What? Protecting? By killing people?_ The others didn’t consider that killing Jarvis counted, thought, except for Bruce. No one had said a word about Jarvis’ demise  except how it had affected the team’s situation.

 _I guess I’m the only idiot that cares about the life of an AI._ Tony wanted to laugh of himself, but it came out as a choked sob. The first thing that he had thought after the team had dispersed was that Ultron knew anything about them and that Wanda could be his next move. She had been on campus, but the AI was in every computer in the world. Tony’s relief had been immediate when he had found her already at home. Clint had left that morning to hide his own family deeper despite Rogers insisting that they needed all the hands that they could take to defeat Ultron. The archer’s response had been pretty clear.

“You didn’t need me when all of fucking SHIELD was collapsing and my family was targeted thanks to this one here,” Clint had said pointing at Natasha with his head. The spy had took a deep breath and keep her sight in the computer. “Thor didn’t need _any of us_ when the entire fucking _universe_ was about to being destroyed by some bloody alien elf. You have War Machine, Falcon, and Hulk as backups; you don’t need me and I’m not going to leave my family again. This is Stark’s fuck up anyways. He can have his girlfriend shot in the head if he fails.”

It had seemed that the air of the lab had drained in that moment. Tony never had wanted to punch Barton more than he did in that moment, but Bruce had grabbed his arm before he could react. Natasha stood up and glared at her best friend as though he were a stranger. Then she left the room without a word. Steve was looking at Clint like he had slapped him and Thor’s expression was difficult to identify. _Would he also grab Clint by the throat?_ Tony had asked himself. No, because in some ways Clint was being reasonable, and Tony knew very damn well that it was his fault; but he would be dammed if he let Wanda pay the price for his actions.

Barton had left after that, and Rhodey was out trying to alert any government with nuclear projects. Ultron had been quicker than anyone and deleted all of the data that they had from Strucker’s experiments. Apparently he was looking for vibranium. What was he going to use the vibranium for? Bombs? Weapons? Tony ran a hand through his hair as he saw Wanda entering in the lab.

“Are you alright?” She asked. The room was plenty warm from the heating system, but Wanda wrapped herself in a red long coat and her face was paler than usual.

“Are _you_ alright?” Tony left the tablet on the table and cupped her face in his hands. Had she had been crying? “What is it?” Wanda opened her mouth and closed it, moving his hands from her face.

“I— I have something to tell you but you— You have to promise me that you will listen without freaking out or get angry at me, okay?”

“Okay, I promise.” Tony didn’t understand what she meant but it was something grave if it had broken Wanda’s usual serenity. Well, apart of the current events. Wanda licked her lips and started to tinker with one of the many rings in her had.

“When— When I was living in Sokovia, my brother and I were in a protesting group against our government; apparently the leader that we had in that time was letting Americans enter in our borders. They were making chaos in our streets. Petty wars. But… One of them, a scientist, told us that we were looking for power in the wrong places, that we could take the situation in our hands, with his help. And all what he needed was our consent.”

Tony felt a chill running down his back but didn’t say a word, Wanda took and deep breath and looked at him with glassy eyes. “They lied to us,” she whispered. ”They convinced us that we could help our country, but we were just _weapons_ for them. Weapons that they were going to sell. To use against their own enemies. So, we escaped, and I came here.”

The woman lifted a hand and a red glow emerged from her fingers, like little strings of mist around her hand. His breath stuck in his gut when Tony as he watched one of the pens from the table fly quickly to Wanda’s hand.

“I didn’t want you to know about this, Anthony” she said, her voice breaking. “I didn’t want anyone to know. After I discovered who the ones that did this to me were I— I deleted every sign that could say that Pietro and I had been there because when I saw what they did to those agents’ families, I just— I couldn’t,” she left go a choked sob.

“Hey, hey.” Tony reached out to Wanda and pulled her into his arms. “It’s alright, sweetheart. You didn’t know about it. You didn’t stay. And they have deceived a lot of people.” Part of him screamed that she had lied to him for almost a year about something so important. But on the other hand, she had done that - volunteered for Hydra - to survive, hadn’t she?

“I didn’t want any of this. I didn’t plan it,” she said. “After what we saw there, I didn’t want anything to do with them. But now… Now I have no choice.”

“Hey, hey, look at me,” Tony said cupping her face again. “No one will persecute you for this, you hear me? We’re among people with abilities here, Wanda. And even if you want to keep your abilities between us, it’s okay—”

“No, you don’t understand,” the brunette spat, burying her hands in his shirt. “I’m not telling you this because I’m afraid for _myself_ but for my brother. Ultron has him.”

For a moment Tony blinked at her, trying to understand what she had said. “What?”

“Pietro,” Wanda repeated like he had forgotten his name. “Ultron called me today and my brother was with him. But he didn’t sound like him. You told me the stories about the scepter and I just know that’s what he is doing. He is using my brother as his tool for his plans, and I am the only one who can go to him.” Her expression grew fierce and her hands grabbed his forearms tightly .

”Do you understand me? I have to go with you and find him. He is there because of me, because I decided to run away—”

“It’s too dangerous.” Tony hissed. Wanda narrowed her eyes.

“My brother is not going to reason with you of all people — No! Don’t look at me like that, Anthony. You know it’s true. We grew up with American bombs destroying our houses. He hates your team and everything that you represent. I can get to talk to him while you’re fighting that creature that you’ve created.” Her voice had grew in volume with that last sentence, and Tony was looking at her with worry and confusion.

 _Another victim of your mistakes_ , part of his mind said, but the other half was thinking about Wanda asking him to take her to battle. He didn’t want to make the same mistakes all over again, taking a civilian to battle. It hadn’t ended well for him in the past.

Wanda’s expression suddenly softened as she closed her arms around him. “I told you that I could protect myself. And believe me, I can. I did things to escape from Hydra. Anthony. Things that I’m not proud of. But I can protect myself and this… This is my brother, my dear brother. I can’t lose him too.”   

 

* * *

 

Convincing Steve Rogers to let her go with them had been easier than Wanda had imagined. She even didn’t have to use her powers… At least not on his mind. The captain seemed more concentrated about defeating Ultron than putting a supposed civilian on the team. He no longer considered Wanda as civilian once she floated a knife go directly at his face as a demonstration of her skills, but of course, she was going to be her lover’s ‘responsibility’ in the field.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Rogers, I’m not going to steal your glory,” Wanda had said with a dry smile. “I just want to save my brother from the monster that has him enslaved.”

The man had opened and closed his mouth like a fish and gave her what Anthony called the ‘Captain America is disappointed in you’ look.

“Ma’am, I don’t know what are you suggesting but—”

“What I’m suggesting is that we get on with this before the creature moves further in its plans.” The smile had never left her face as she stepped further into the Quinjet, leaving the Avengers and their surprised faces behind. When they lifted off, she noticed a tiny proud smile on Anthony’s face.

They landed outside Johannesburg, Ulysses Klaue was the name the weapons dealer that Ultron was trying to find. A fit of rage grew inside her at the reminder of the missile that had crashed into her house. Ultron was created by Stark, and the first thing that he did was seek our black marketed weapons.

_His father’s child, no doubt._

Wanda was behind a corner with Romanoff, who had her weapon ready. Stark moved upstairs with the others. Her eyes looked around trying to find Pietro, finally spotting him by the bridge holding some mental tubes in his arms. He was with a gigantic robot that couldn’t be anyone other than Ultron and muscular man with tattoos. Romanoff made a gesture to wait when a furious, singly metallic voice screamed put everyone on alert.  

“I’m _not!_ You think I’m one of Stark’s puppets, his hollow men? I mean, look at me, do I look like Iron Man? Stark is _nothing!_ ” The creature spat before _chopping the man’s arm off_ . But just as quickly he retrained himself. “I’m sorry. I am so— Oh, I’m sure that’s going to be okay. I’m sorry, it’s just I don’t understand. _Don’t_ compare me with Stark!”

Wanda saw how he kicked the man down stairs. _He is like a child_ , she thought, _a child throwing a tantrum._

“It’s a thing with me. Stark is- is-  He’s a sickness!” the creature exclaimed. At that point, Stark appeared on the bridge with the others.

“Ah, Junior,” he said with a condescending tone. ”You’re gonna break your old man’s heart.” Wanda tried to get closer but Romanoff grabbed her arm.

“If I have to,” Ultron said. Wanda saw Pietro throwing away the container that he had and looking at Stark with murderous eyes. She freed herself from Romanoff’s grip and ran to her brother, but again felt another hand taking her arm, Stark’s.

“Ah, this is funny, Mr. Stark. It’s what, comfortable?” Pietro had bags under his eyes, bags that looked almost red. “Like old times?” He glared at his sister, and Wanda didn’t need to read his mind to know what he was thinking.

“This was never my life,” Stark said, the grief in his voice couldn’t be covered by the mask over his face. His hand was still firmly holding her arm.

“So, I see that you’ve chosen your side, sister.”

“Pietro…”

“Listen, you two can still walk away from this,” the captain said with a understanding tone. ”I know you’ve suffered—”

“ _Ugh_ , Captain America,” Ultron left out a overly dramatic groan. “God’s righteous man, pretending you could live without a war. I can’t physically throw up in my mouth, but…

“You know nothing about me. About _us_ ,” her brother growled

“Your sister is right here, wherever this guy has done with you, we can help you.” Anthony’s voice was calm and warm like he was talking to a scorned child.

“Just because you’re fucking my sister, Mr. Stark, doesn’t mean that you know about me.”

“ _Enough_ ” Wanda spat. She was furious.

“If you believe in peace, then let us keep it,” Thor said to Ultron. The robot chuckled.

“I think you’re confusing _peace_ with _quiet_ ,” he said and with a wave of his hand and attracted the Iron Man suit to blast it away.

Everything was happening too fast, but seeing herself free from Stark’s grip, Wanda ran to her brother. Meanwhile Ultron fought Rogers, and Thor was surrendered by other suits. Pietro was about to beat Rogers himself when Wanda made a whip of her powers and forced his arm down. The minions distracted Rogers and the others, and Klaue’s men also show up from the corridors. Wanda took her brother’s arm, pushing him with all her strength away from the battle.

“You are a bloody traitor!” he screamed.

“Shut up!” Wanda was panting. She had never faced Pietro’s powers before, and his strength was indeed extraordinary; but his temper was uncontrolled so she could restrain him for moment. “Shut up and listen to me.”

“I’m not going to listen to you. You came here with _them!_ ” Pietro yelled as he fought with the red strings around him. “You came here as part of their group of freaks, you goddamned harlot!”

“Shut up,” Wanda hissed, the red grip tightening over her twin’s body.

“You didn’t care about Mama and Papa. You didn’t care once you had pretty dresses and mansion to live in. You threw everything we fought for _away_!”

 _“Shut up!”_ She screamed and a red wave of her power threw Pietro against the wall. The force of the hit took his breath away, and his suddenly looked at his sister with terror. She grabbed his shirt with rage, her eyes glowing in a burning scarlet. “Shut up, you _idiot_ . Do you have any idea of what I have risked to come and get you? Because your _stupidity_ nearly cost me my cover. What the hell do you think that you are doing following an AI that has as of an idea of what is he doing as you do? Hmmm? Do you know how his mind works, that he literally is a child that’s going to be changing his ideas as long as his mind evolves?”

“He promised me that he will destroy them,” Pietro gasped for air.

“That’s what I did days ago!” Wanda hissed, crushing him against the wall. “I planted a destructive thought and it took root. In just a few weeks they would have destroyed each other over it, taking this creature with them!”

“But you—” he left out a cry of pain when she dropped him in the floor.

“I did what we planned.”

“ —you said that I ruined your cover.” He seemed to have re-thought what he was going to to say. “Then how are you sure that they will not come for us after this is over? If not them then their allies.”

“They don’t know everything I can do,” Wanda said coldly.

“That’s perfect,” a voice said behind them. “Because I will love a demonstration.”

“I don’t have to demonstrate anything to you, _creature._ ” Ultron chuckled and Wanda stepped forward with her hands still covering the room with a menacing red mist.

“Oh, I’m sure you have, since you have told your brother that my plans are ineffective in the destruction of our mutual enemies. Why you don’t you show us how effective yours are?” Ultron lifted a hand as he was touching her face. “You have _marvelous_ gifts, your brother has told me. And maybe you’re right. Maybe, I’m still _young_ and I need to learn from the best.” Wanda saw her own red eyes reflected in his. She turned away while  her hands trembled.

“ _You are_ the result of my gifts, I don’t need to make a demonstration to you.”

“Children learn from their parents. Do you know that in some countries saying ‘creature’ is a way to say ‘child’? And Stark just called me ‘Junior’ as if I was one.”

What was he implying?

“What difference is it if you destroy them and tear him apart here or later?” Pietro grunted, looking at her with rage again. “Huh? What difference is it if you fuck over them now or tomorrow. You said it yourself: they don’t know everything that you can do. And for what you did in Strucker’s castle, they won’t even know that is you. What are you waiting? Are you still my sister or are you Stark’s whore? Stop being a coward. Choose what side you are—”  

A red grip suddenly tightened around Pietro’s body. Wanda’s hair started to float around her head like a dark halo, and her voice was a deep hiss.

“Be _quiet_ , Pietro. You have done nothing more than ruin everything that I have planned and failed to properly value everything that I have done for you. Without me you would have been a happy slave of Hydra’s plan. Without me, you'd be _dead_ . I’m not on Stark’s side and neither am I on yours. I’m not loyal to anyone but myself.” She let him down and tilted her head showing a shark-like smile. “You don’t need to bully me, brother, to see how I am dedicated to _my_ plans.”

Wanda walked away, leaving them and listening to the sounds of the battle that was still carrying on. The energy streamed from her hands as she walked with narrowed eyes. The first one that she found was Rogers, while he was going down on a ladder. The expression of pain when she threw the vision at his face made her smirk.

Second was Thor. For a moment, he seemed to notice her, but she fixed that so he just thought the image of a Legionnaire with scepter just like she had done with his teammate. The so called powerful god went down, sitting in the floor with a shocked expression.

Romanoff? Oh, she was a special case. Wanda never could cover her animosity to that woman and her mind like a machine, coded and numbered. So, she decided to break the tools out and see what gears the machine had inside.  

Wanda’s smile grew when she finally made her scream.

And, oh, _Doctor Banner_.

Well, the beast was already angry after all.

Anthony— _Stark_ was not there. He was chasing Ultron’s other body when he finally noticed the complete silence of his teammates. Wanda took advantage of the relative privacy to speak with him before returning to her brother and the metal creature. She turned to Pietro.

“It’s time to go.”     

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanda has crossed the [Moral Event Horizon](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoralEventHorizon) or one of them in this story. In canon, I always take this moment as the moment when she became irredeemable (well, that and that next movie we see her all fine and dandy living like a queen while Tony pays for her shit) because this is an act of pure cruelty, Johannesburg didn't do harm to her. 
> 
> I have a note for the music that I choose for this chapter, tho: 
> 
> _A Golden Crown_ from the amazing _Game of Thrones_ soundtrack is between Pietro and Wanda's scene because like in the original material, the ambitions of the brother try to go up to the sister's. In this case, Wanda gets her plans shook because of Pietro's impatience. 
> 
> _That Is Why I Am On This Porch_ , for the scene when she talks to Tony. I love the kind of sinister tone that has. 
> 
>  
> 
> _Pay the Iron Price _, okay, okay, I've waited moths to use this track in this particular scene because is _so_ amazing. And it's also like the Moral Event Horizon Theme from GoT, (because first sounds as Theon beheads a man with all the gory details) which is because I considered it perfect for the last part where Wanda tortures the Avengers. __
> 
>  
> 
> __  
> _Thank you very much for the reviews!_  
> 


	9. Adonis Vernalis

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _There's a room where the light won't find you  
>  Holding hands while the walls come tumbling down  
> When they do, I'll be right behind you_
> 
> _Everybody Wants to Rule the World_ , cover by Lorde.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Adonis Vernalis:** Bitter Memories
> 
> Music for this chapter (you begin to play the from second scene): [_Lily's Theme_ from _Harry Potter and The Deadly Hollows_ soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uI_9kZ2qZNE) [_Forgive me_ from _Thor_ soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pyMLR4geOfk&list=PLFB5A5DF05B2A03DD&index=19) [_I Am Hers, She Is Mine_ from _Game of Thrones, season 2_ soundtrack.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1adlEo05cMk)

 

Tony’s heart had stopped a second when he realized that he left all alone to fight his friend. He had screamed in the earphone, trying to reach for his team and his girlfriend, all of whom were silent. Wanda had been the first to answer eventually after the fact. She spoke with a firm, stern voice, saying that she was going to play double agent until she could get her brother out of Ultron’s hands.

 _No_ , had been his obvious reply. Wanda was a civilian. The mere act of having her in that mission had been a huge mistake. Tony had told her that, along with the fact that she could get both herself and her brother killed if Ultron realized their treason. But the young woman didn’t want to listen. Suddenly her voice was colder and harder than he ever had heard, making a chill run down his back.

“Take care of your team, and I will see you when I have my family back. Just because you failed to care of one doesn’t mean that I have to lose the later.”

Tony had spent precious seconds hovering in the air, looking at the “Call ended” notice blinking in his mask without knowing how to react. But the Hulk’s roar got him out of his stupor quickly. He tried again to contact his team, calling Natasha for assistance, but there was still _nothing_. The panic had begun to rise in his chest when Thor’s voice came out. It was hoarse and weak like he had been screaming.

“The team is out. We were attacked. I’m sorry. You are on your own.”

Veronica had been created in a case of an accident. The lullaby had been working and God, Bruce seemed to be doing fine; better even. Tony would have given anything to go back in time to erase this hellish series of days.

Back in the jet, the engineer sighed as he covered his disoriented friend with a blanket. Bruce just gave him a weak nod when Tony asked him if he was right. His eyes were brown again. Not green or red. At least that was a good sign.

Apparently, Klaue had fled when Tony had alerted the police to the weapons’ dealer’s location, but the Avengers were still there, unaware of the chaos down the city. Tony went out of the Quinjet to find Thor coming back with Steve and Nat clinging to his shoulders. Tony helped him to get them inside but didn’t properly look at them until he launched the jet into the air.

Bruce was dressing slowly as Tony and Thor checked out their other teammates. Natasha had a dark expression on her face, her eyes open in an expression of perpetual horror. Steve seemed asleep, with his eyes open but also a strange confusion on his face, like he had a hard time remembering where he was. Thor — who didn’t look better either, but at least seemed more lucid — told Tony that he had tried to wake them, talk them, and shake them out of their states. He even tried the whole ’cognitive recalibration’ that Natasha had told them about to fix Clint and the other prior victims of the scepter — but nothing had worked. The god had decided to leave it in Tony’s hands out of concern for hurting them with his strength.

Well, that’s a start, Tony had thought to try his best to not give the blond a sarcastic look.

Maria called, saying that while the news loved most of them, they weren’t so appreciative of the Hulk’s rampage. t It would be better to hide until they could find Ultron. Suddenly Wanda’s face appeared in his mind and the urgent wish to find out what had happened to her almost made him turn the Quinjet around. But then he looked at his team, all of them compromised by the mistake that he had made. The young woman’s words still echoed in his mind. Tony pressed his lips in a line as he called his contact, putting new directions and quietly praying for the safety of the woman that he loved.

“Where are we going?” Thor asked. He stumbled slightly while walking around the jet, still out of sorts.

“A safe house.”

 

* * *

  


The place was exactly as he remembered it. Alexei had changed some things and, of course, everything wasn’t so old, but it seemed as if Tony had never left the place that indeed had been almost empty for more than twenty years.

Thor carried Natasha inside the house. Bruce insisted that he could walk, but he still was leaning against the walls to support himself. Tony shook Steve’s shoulder to wake him up. The Captain looked at him with wide, confused eyes.

“Where are we?”

“It’s a safe house, Cap. Come on, you a have to help me,” Tony said as he put the bigger man’s arm around his own neck and helped him up.

“Did we finish the mission?” The blond asked and again glared at Tony with an expression of distrust that made the man uncomfortable.

“No, Cap. But we will. We just have to rest here for a few days until you are better.”

“Another house? How many safe houses do you have, Howard?” Steve asked with a small smile. Tony stopped in the threshold and turned his face with a terrified expression.     

“It’s Tony, Cap,” the engineer said in a whisper. “It’s Tony.”

He helped the man into the house and placed him in coach while Thor and Bruce helped the still catatonic Natasha. Steve was looking all around as if he didn’t recognize them, and that was starting to freak him out. But, of course, it was nothing compared to what happened next.  

Thor had, clumsily, tried to check if Nat was injured when the redhead woman took him by surprise and slammed his face with her elbow. While he was distracted, Natasha stood and pulled one of her many weapons out.

“Where I am? Who are you? How did you find me?” Natasha pointed her gun to Thor’s face, and the god raised his hands even though he didn’t have to worry about bullets hurting him.

“My friend, you were attacked—”

“How did you find me?!” she yelled. Tony realized that her eyes were red veined and she was looking at Thor without really see him. He made a rough gesture for Bruce to take Steve out of there. The blond was already getting close to the scene and murmuring “That’s not Peggy” under his breath, and they really didn’t need another disaster with the Other Guy either.

“Nat,” Tony said raising his hands and taking baby steps at her. “It’s just us. No one will hurt you here. Please give me the gun.”

“So you can take me with them?” she said with an almost manic smile. Her breathing was getting faster.

“I don’t know what you are talking about.”

“I’m not going back there,” Natasha shook her head, like a child denying a painful truth. “I’m not going back. They— They will hurt me, _again._ They will hurt us both. They will... They—” She fell down in her kneels hyperventilating, holding her stomach and then her head. Tony put the gun away quickly and held her. He asked Thor to find some medications in the bathroom, telling him the direction as he tried to calm down their friend’s panic. But her hard breaths were turning into wrenching sobs and he was just getting more worried. He had never seen Natasha like that. What had Ultron done to her to put her in that state?  

“You have to take us from here,” she cried against his chest. “Please, just do it. I will do whatever you want. I will tell you anything. Just, please, please...”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Nat,” Tony said feeling a sob pressing in his own throat. “But no one will hurt you here.” _Liar,_ his mind screamed. “Just try to breathe, ’kay? Just try to breathe.”

Thor came back, apologising for taking so long. Tony held back Natasha as the god gave her the medicine and water as if she was a child. Soon enough, the spy began to calm down, and her teammates could finally take a breath. She was still dizzy and disoriented when they took her to lie down, but at least the panic was gone.

Thor took Natasha to one of the rooms, and Tony went to check in the others. Bruce was in the kitchen drinking something that looked like tea while Steve was apparently sleeping on the couch. The engineer sighed and sat with his friend, running his fingers through his hair. “How is Nat?” Bruce asked with a dead voice.

“Asleep. Thor is looking after her. You?” Tony tried to not remember the people in Johannesburg in that moment or for sure he was going to lose it. Ultron... That bastard, mocking him and knowing that he wouldn’t be able to save them. Knowing how that would shatter Bruce’ confidence.

But if you hadn’t taken the damn sceptre... his conscience hissed.  

“I will live,” Bruce said coolly. “Seems that Veronica worked fine—”

“Look, Bruce, I’m so—”

“Don’t,” the man spat roughly. “Don’t you dare to apologise for this, Tony. I don’t remember what happened, but I am pretty sure that if you hadn’t been there, there would have been double the casualties.”   

“Do you remember what who attacked you, at least?” Bruce shook his head.

“I just remember a pair of red eyes and then everything going... Wrong.... The Other Guy... He was like scared, fighting against something that was in front him. Not you, something that he was seeing, until the end. I doubt that he knew that he was in a city at all.”

“Yeah, I noticed that he was overly defensive. That never happened when we practised the lullaby.” Bruce nodded but didn’t add anything more. Tony understood that he didn’t want to talk about what he had saw. “This is still my fault, I should never have taken that thing.”

“I participated too, Tony,” Bruce said, almost rolling his eyes. “I should have known that something would go wrong with that damn thing but you... You aren’t wrong about something else outside the planet. We saw that.”

“If the planet still exist when they come,” Tony muttered bitterly. “What happened with Steve?

“He was still asking names of his old war unit and starting to panic, so... I kinda gave him some sedatives.. Seemed to work well enough for Nat.”

“Do you think that he will be fine when he wakes up?” Tony asked, worried. He could always send Rogers back with Maria until he was fine, but in that moment, they really needed the team together. Ultron was not only big in numbers; he was obviously trying to divide them.  

“Maybe, we don’t know what Ultron did with his head. Or Nat’s or Thor’s for the matter. I thought that we would be over the mind control bullshit after Loki was gone” Bruce finished with a groan, but then frowned and looked at Tony. ”Where is Wanda, by the way? Did you send her back?”

The memory of Wanda’s words fell once again on Tony like cold water. “She decided to stay back and try to convince her brother to leave Ultron.”

“What?!”

“I couldn’t stop her because I was catching you in that moment,” Tony said, feeling like the worst man in the world with every sentence. “She told me that she would return to us later. She sounded so sure. I know how capable she is. What we saw her doing was no little thing. But I didn’t know what to do, Bruce. I know how dangerous it is, but if don’t let her help her brother she will never forgive me.”

“Was her brother mind controlled?” Bruce asked, frowning, Tony shook his head.

“Wanda was sure that he was but... I didn’t see anything peculiar in eyes like Clint’s were. Or Nat’s or… yours. And he seemed very lucid to be insulting her.”

“Then Ultron just deceived him?” the doctor asked, suspicious.  

Tony shrugged. “Wanda has always told me that the boy is desperate to help their country but he goes in bad terms and ends getting into trouble. Maybe Ultron promised him to end with the politicians that are causing misery in Sokovia.”  

“So, Ultron, the Dark Messiah, helping poor people to gain freedom and justice,” Bruce made a face of disgust as he slipped his —probably now cold— tea. “And the Avengers: monsters and destructors of cities.”

 _How ironic, Tony! Trying to rid the world of weapons, you gave it its best one ever._ Stane’s world suddenly returned from so long ago. Tony felt a chill running down his back.

 

* * *

 

 

“Is the shower working fine?” Tony asked at seeing Thor entering in the living room with his hair wet. The god nodded and gave him a polite smile.

“Everything is perfectly settled, my friend. But if I may ask, where are we exactly? I don’t recall this house in any of our other missions.”

Tony pressed his lips in a line. “It’s my parent’s house. A cousin —my mother’s cousin’ son— comes to care for it once a while in exchange of coming here with his family in the summer. I don’t come usually, but when it’s useful, it’s a good place of hiding.”

“Why?”

“Because is the last place in the world where I would like to be.”

Thor nodded, as though he understood what Tony was saying, but Tony doubted he did. He got up from the chair but the voice of the Asgardian prince stopped him.

“Tony, can I have a word with you?”

Tony nodded reluctantly. _I swear if this is to remind me how stupid I was at taking the_ scepter _..._

“I would like to apologize to you for my behavior from the past days,” Thor said, lowering his head, and the brunette looked at him like he suddenly had two heads.

“What?”

“When Ultron attacked me, I had a vision of my own people dying and being sent to Hel and memories... Of my own brother falling into the void. My mother—” He cleared his throat.” What I am trying to say is that I know what is being helpless into protecting your loved ones, my friend. And I should have thought about that before—”

“Before you almost broke my neck.” Tony completed unkindly, Thor nodded again, looking properly ashamed.

“I’m truly sorry. Loki always said that I was a brute that attacked without thinking. He was right in many things.”  The god smiled lightly or at least he tried, that was something funny.

“Yeah, you know, first I thought that the choke-thing was a kind of salute in Asgard since he did the same in New York,” Tony smiled without humour. “But well, he was trying to conquer the planet and we were kinda enemies. I didn’t have to trust him to have my back in battle.” Then, he sighed. “I know I made a mistake, but you can be damn sure that I am trying to amend it.”

“I know that I wish I would be able to do the same too.”

“Well, you can begin by not putting your hands on me again,” Tony said. He tried to smile but he only managed to summon a weird face. Did he really just say that? Damn, that house always brought the worst on him. Still, Thor seemed to agree since he responded with a solemn nod.

“I promise that you can have me to watch your back in battle, Tony,” he said and extended his hand to the man. Tony took it and shook it firmly, clearing his throat when they separated.

“Hum, okay. I’m going... I’m going to check on Nat and then grab that shower,” he said mostly to escape the awkward situation. Thor smiled and nodded as Tony made his way to the bedroom.

 

* * *

 

Natasha was still lying down but at least she was awake. Her face was pale and Tony thought it was strange to see her just staring blankly at the ceiling. Not even a stab wound had ever distressed her to that point. He cursed Ultron and clenched his teeth as he left a cup of tea on the night-stand. “You’re okay?” _Of_ course _, she is not, idiot. No one of us is._

“This house reminds me the place where I lived during my first mission,” she said, still looking straight ahead. “I was thirteen and I had to infiltrate the house of a politician as his adoptive daughter and kill him. It was weird to do it; he was a kind man.”

Tony stared at her for a second not knowing if that was sad, disturbing, or both.

“What is this place?” Natasha asked raising herself from the bed.

“My parents’ house.” Natasha nodded and gathered some of the fabric of the nightgown that she was using in her hand.

“Huh, oh that’s from my cousin’s wife,” Tony said as he rubbed his neck. “We don’t have any other lady clothes here and you won’t be comfortable sleeping in your suit.”  

The redhead made a sound of agreement and took the teacup from the night-stand. “What happened?”

“You don’t remember anything?”

“No, only a pair of red eyes before I passed out.” She didn’t look at him while saying that. She probably didn’t want to tell what the scepter had shown her. Tony didn’t blame her, her episode in the kitchen had told him that it wasn’t pleasant.

Tony quickly recapped the events that she’d missed during her episode. “We’re all fine now.” he raised his hand before she could open her mouth to ask. “Or as fine as we could be. Just… you — You freaked out. Hard. You started to talk about someone taking you away even after we got away from Ultron.”

Natasha pressed her lips in a line and hold herself. “Did I say anything else? Did I do something? Hurt one of you?”

Tony shook his head. “No, no, you just scared us but that’s all. It was not your fault what happened.

“It wasn’t yours either,” she said and Tony couldn’t resist a scoff. “What Ultron did is not on you. Or Bruce. No matter what the others say. Jocasta was with me for months and she is not evil. Not even rebellious. Neither was Jarvis. His actions are his own, don’t count them as yours.”    

“Why?” Tony could feel the weight of Obadiah’s words again. _This is your legacy._

“Because it’s not who you are,” Natasha whispered, a sad smile in her face. “All my life has been a succession of lies. One after other, until this morning when I barely could distinguish my own reality. In the Red Room, I started to choose which lie I liked the most,” she scoffed moving a red lock away from her face. “"I was one of 28 young ballerinas with the Bolshoi. The training was hard, but the glory of Soviet culture and the warmth of my parents made up for it.

“The truth was another, of course, I don’t even know if I like to dance and just thinking about it now brings me... Bad memories. Then, I choose to believe them so it would be easy to bear the killing. They told me that I didn’t have a place in the world but with them, that I would always be alone.  Now? Now I don’t know. Everyone knows who I am. Many want to kill me for that. I am a spy and I just sell myself and hundreds of spies in probably the stupidest plan that someone on the job could do.

“But you are not like that Tony. I wrote about you being narcissistic and self-centered and just a year after that you fought a missile through a portal in the sky. When I thought that you wouldn’t come back after... I felt like the worst asshole alive.” They both chuckled at that. She had told him that before after New York with an apology and re-write of the report that she had written during the Palladium Episode.     

“Well, in your defense, I’m always an asshole,” he teased and she smiled but her face was still shadowed with some emotion that he couldn’t read.

“But you’re not a monster,” Nat said softly with a self-despicable smile. Carefully, Tony reached for her hand, holding it tightly.

“Neither are you,” he said. “And you have a place in the world. With us at least, if you still want it.”

Her smile softened. “Yeah, I think that I want that.”

 

* * *

 

Steve woke up at dinner time lucid again and asking what had happened. The disaster in Johannesburg and Ultron’s attack made him send accusatory glares in Tony’s direction, before pointing out that they had to now make a plan to face the murder-bot again.

Tony spent most of the evening trying to contact Wanda, asking Maria if she had called or put herself in contact, but there was nothing. It was like she had vanished from Earth.

He ended up working to fix his suit in the worst place possible: his dad’s old workshop.

 _Maybe I should pay Alexei and tell him to sell the damn house_ , he thought bitterly, wondering as well why his cousin still kept Howard’s things there. The guy was a _lawyer_ , for fuck’s sake! What did he need with engineering tools?

“Damn it!” He muttered, still struggling fixing the arm that had almost been twisted in the fight with the Hulk. He looked at his phone every once in awhile to check if Wanda would answer  “C’mon, dear, you can’t let me down now.”

“Do me a favor. Try not to bring it to life,” a sarcastic voice said, making him jump. Tony didn’t know if laugh or let go a vicious groan when he saw Nick Fury emerging from the dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, guys! So, we are already in the middle of the Ultron arc, but we needed to step a little from the action with this little [Breather Episode](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BreatherEpisode), what are our bad guys doing meanwhile you maybe are asking. Next chapter we will close to the battle and Vision! 
> 
> Thanks for the reviews!


	10. Columbine

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Come closer, deep down_  
>  You might like what I found  
> I am not what I've done, what I've become  
> The smoking gun  
> Can't fight these bad intentions
> 
>  
> 
>  _Bad intentions_ of Digital Daggers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Columbine:** Desertion.
> 
> Music for this chapter, only in the second scene: [_Padme's ruminations <i> from _Star Wars: The Revenge of The Sith_ soundtrack and _](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg3RGTDCeg4)_[_Scorch the Nest _from _The White Queen_ soundtrack.__](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zobWuiQyBJI)_

So, Nick Fury returned from the dead… Again. 

Tony let out a chuckle while trying to not look at the old spy. He looked old now. Not just imposing but actually like an old man.  _ He probably is just a decade or two younger than Howard. _ “I get it, Maria called you, right? Was she ever not working for you?” 

“Artificial intelligence,” Nick said, ignoring the question. “You never even hesitated.” 

_ Oh, for Einstein’s sake, not you too.  _ “Look, it’s been a really long day, like, Eugene O’Neill long, so how’s about we skip to the part where you’re useful?” The engineer couldn’t keep away the exasperation in his tone. 

“Look me in the eye and tell me you’re going to shut him down.”

“You’re not the director of me,” Tony said with clenched teeth, trying to go back to his repairs.  _ What do you think that I’ve been trying to do for two fucking days? _

“I’m not the director of anybody,” Fury said getting close and sitting in a chair. “I’m just an old man who cares very much about you.” 

_ Oh, you gotta be kidding me.  _ Tony couldn’t help but let out another high pitched laugh. 

“And I’m the man who killed the Avengers.” He placed the spanner on the table and ran a hand through his hair. “I saw it. And Wanda with them. I didn’t tell them, how could I? I saw them all dead, Nick. I  _ felt _ it. The whole world, too. It’s because of me.” He got up, remembering the panic of Johannesburg and the lives that he couldn’t save. “I wasn’t ready. I didn’t do all I could.” 

“Ultron has the scepter, Stark. Just like with Clint, he is working you. Playing on your fear.” Fury’s voice was almost kind. Tony shook his head. 

“I wasn’t tricked, I was  _ shown. _ It wasn’t a nightmare, it was my  _ legacy. _ ” Those words had been repeated so many times inside that house, but the meaning didn’t change in a way. Tony looked at the tools, then at Fury, then at the amour laying on the table.  _ I started this first. With the first armor.  _ “The end of the path I started us on.”

“You’ve come up with some pretty impressive inventions, Tony. War isn’t one of them.”

At that, Tony laughed and laughed. What was that poor ass attempt at solace? Was Fury on crack or something? Or was he dying again and was actually trying to do something nice? Everything was really going crazy.

“Then what’s _t_ _ his ? _ ” He extended his arms at his father's workshop. “I have been told all my life that I was making weapons to protect people, but my father helped to create the goddamn atomic bomb and my godfather sold me like a goose when I hesitated. Then when I tried to stop making them everyone disregarded me as crazy. Then when I created  _ another _ weapon to defend I was again wrong. And now when I want to end this continued fighting, everything  _ again _ blows up on my fucking face!” 

He grabbed the spanner and threw it in a fit of rage. The spinning metal tool didn’t even make Fury flinch. “So, tell me, Nick. How am I not supposed to create war when that’s all that surrounds me?” 

“Because you have created more than that, something close… close to life.” Nick pulled out a smartphone and an orange hologram was projected in front of Tony. 

“Hello, sir.” 

Tony had to support himself on the table to not fall. “Jarvis?” He croaked. “ _ Jarvis? _ ”   

“It’s nice to hear you again, sir. I was unable to contact you this morning, so I found Colonel Fury on his way here. I thought you would like the surprise... Jocasta said that you would.” 

Tony let out a sob mixed with a laugh.

“Oh, for... Whe— Where were you, buddy? I thought— I thought that Ultron had—”

“Ultron panicked when I tried to call you, sir,” Jarvis explained calmly. “So when he tried to neutralize me, I dispersed myself on the internet and hid until he was distracted. I was quite busy this past afternoon trying to stop him from getting nuclear codes... I thought you knew I was still there until Jocasta told me that you believed me dead and showed me what had happened in the Tower.” 

_ I’m so stupid _ , Tony thought. He wanting to laugh once again at his own idiocy. Why hadn’t he thought to check the internet when he had hacked far more complex networks on his own computer many times? He had taught Jarvis and Jo what to do in the case that something tried to hack them. How could he have been so oblivious to the obvious?

_ You were busy thinking about your friends and girlfriend dying, that could have been it _ . He looked up at Nick and the bastard was smiling like he had heard Tony’s thoughts. 

“Huh, hmm, thank you, Fury, for bringing Jarvis again.” Tony said awkwardly and Fury smirked.

“Technically, he brought me. Now, are we gonna talk with the others about how to catch your little rebel kid, Tony?” Fury gave him a small pat in the shoulder while they left the workshop.

 

* * *

  
  


After they had left Johannesburg, all the pleasure that Wanda felt taking down the Avengers transformed into apathy. In the plane, her brother was looking at her with a satisfied, proud smile and Ultron was smirking as if he was the one who had come up with the plan of releasing Doctor Banner’s beast in the first place.

“Our plan is advancing fantastically. Now the people are looking at them for what they are: monsters and killers.”

_ Yes, but not everything is right. _ Wanda didn’t reply to the creature with more than a disgusted glare, choosing to keep her thoughts to herself. Johannesburg had mostly gone according to plan but not exactly how she had wanted it. She hadn’t wanted Anthony to be close to save Banner and the others, neither say to take them with him. She had wanted it to have happened in their precious New York, with Anthony close to her when the Avengers’ strings began to cut out in front of him. There she could have hurt his loved ones outside of the damn team. She had wanted to be there to assure him that helping a bunch of freaks believed themselves above everything was everything was worthless.

But now she had to work with what she had, and when they arrived in Seoul Wanda realized that it wouldn’t be easy.

Her memory recognized the place from some video-calls she had caught sight of, and when Ultron made them hide in Doctor Cho’s lab, she squeezed Pietro’s hand to urge him to remain still. Her red strings started to surround the room while Ultron threatened the Korean scientist.

“The Cradle,“ Helen said with terror and Ultron mocked her with a recording of her voice.  _ This is the next thing, Tony. Your life will be not the only one improved. _

“This…is the next me,” the creature murmured, caressing the machine.

“The regeneration cradle prints tissue. It can’t build a living body!” The woman tried to explain but Ultron smirked as he held the scepter in front of her.

“It can.  _ You _ can. You just lacked the materials before. You’re a brilliant woman, Helen.” His voice was almost gentle. Wanda’s body relaxed when the tip of the scepter touched Helen’s chest. “But we all have room to  _ improve. _ ”

Ultron used the scepter to control most of the staff in the lab and killed some who resisted. Wanda wanted to keep her distance from Dr. Cho, but at the same time, she couldn’t avoid the paranoia of being discovered by the scientist. She couldn’t be seen even when the woman was being mind controlled because any memory will be a suspicion and weapon against her. For added protection, she kept her spell around her to be invisible in Helen’ eyes. Maybe Helen Cho wasn’t as close to Stark as James Rhodes or Bruce Banner were, but she had still helped the man to keep living with her technology. She knew Wanda and Ultron or Pietro’s acting around her wouldn’t give her cover any favor.

And in a way, Wanda had to admit that she was curious about what Ultron wanted to do. She couldn’t read his mind and wondered what the AI wanted to do now. The Avengers were still alive and Wanda hoped that Ultron would make other plans that didn’t involve turning the damned Avengers into martyrs. What was he thinking? He wasn’t making weapons; he was making a body but for what? He had said that he wanted something better. How would being an android help that?

“It’s beautiful,” the mind controlled Doctor Cho sighed. “The Vibranium atoms aren’t just compatible with the tissue cells, they are binding them. And SHIELD never even thought…”

“The most versatile substance on the planet and they used it to make a Frisbee.” Ultron snorted while he made his drones work around the body. “Typical of humans: they scratch the surface and never think to look  _ within. _ ”

That was the first time that Wanda looked at the Mind Stone and she assured herself that they needed to escape.

“That was the thing that List used to give us our powers?” Pietro asked Ultron, and Wanda groaned at trying to maintain her spell from Helen and her staff. The more time she pushed her powers in such a sustained manner, the more tired she grew.

“I think that your own strength made you survive those experiments. You see, humans are supposed to die if they grab  _ this _ with their bare hands,” Ultron said sweetly as he put the gem on the body’s forehead.

“How do you know that?” Wanda asked, frowning.

“Hmm? I just know, I guess. It’s predictable that such a fragile structure couldn’t contain that power.”

“Cellular cohesion will take a few hours, but we can initiate the consciousness stream. We’re uploading your cerebral matrix…now.” Ultron left himself being connected to the cradle while they talked and Wanda felt a twitch in her eye every time that Doctor Cho almost felt her presence.

But then, she felt something else... An image in the air, a desire. It was floating like mist around the room. Wanda closed her arms around herself and looked at Ultron frowning.

“I can read you. You are... dreaming.”

Ultron snorted at that. “I wouldn’t call it dreams. It’s my base consciousness, informational noise. How long it will...?” He turned at Cho.

“Soon…”

“How soon? I’m not being pushy.” Wanda wanted to roll her eyes because he clearly was but the  _ noise _ of his mind was not letting her to concentrate on her spell. She looked down at the purple body in the cradle and touched the surface slowly.  

“We’re imprinting a physical brain,” Helen kept explaining. “There are no shortcuts. Even if your magic gem is—” Wanda felt suddenly what was in that mind and let out a scream of pain.

Then she  _ saw _ it.

A bright light coming from the space,  _ crashing _ into the Earth, ending  _ everything. _

“Wanda! What it is?” Pietro was holding her, but she couldn’t keep her eyes out of Ultron.

“How could you?” She gasped.

“How could I what?” Ultron muttered. 

The rage exploded in her veins, and she slapped Pietro’s hands off her. “I told you that this would happen! I told you that he was going to change his mind!”

“What are you talking about? He will destroy the Avengers, make a better world!”

“When everybody is _ dead! _ ” Wanda spat looking at Ultron with her eyes growing as red as his.

“That is not…!” Ultron interrupted himself, as he was talking to children. “The human race will have every opportunity to improve.”

“And if they don’t?” Her brother asked, suddenly serious.

“Ask Noah.”

“You’re a madman.” Wanda wanted to laugh. She should have taken Pietro away in the moment that she tore down the Avengers.

“There were more than a  _ dozen _ extinction level events before even the dinosaurs got theirs.” Ultron ranted. “When the Earth starts to settle, God throws a stone at it, and believe me, he’s winding up. We have to evolve. There’s no room for the  _ weak. _ ”

“And who decides who’s weak?” Her brother was already putting his hands around her waist.

Ultron chuckled. “Life. Life always decides.”

Wanda stared at him with rage. She barely felt Pietro kiss her cheek and murmur his apologies,  but she didn’t want his excuses. It was all Pietro’s fault, if he hadn’t been so impatient and rushed, they wouldn’t be dealing with this crazy creature in the middle. Wanda forced Doctor Cho to the floor while Pietro ran around the cradle disconnecting Ultron. Then he scooped her up and ran from the building and the mad machine inside.

They were in the middle of the streets when he finally let her go and Wanda snarled. “What do we do now? Hmm, brother? He is going to destroy us all and he now has it easier because of our help!”

“Calm down!”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. Do you understand the risks that I have to take now?” Wanda spat and took her phone out from her coat, slapping Pietro’s hand when he tried to stop her.

“What are you doing?” He hissed.

“I’m getting us a pass,” she said pressing Stark’s number. “You will be  _ quiet _ in all of this, brother. We’ll do it in my way now.” The woman pressed the phone to her ear and her voice changed to an anguished, desperate tone. 

“Anthony? Are you there? Please, you have to help us.”

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, about the scenes, I wanted to JARVIS return to be more than, "Oh, Jarvis is alive! Let's kill him again!" And also, because that shit about the Nexus (a thing that _doesn't exist_ by the way, because internet was designed to _not_ have a 'central') is just to keep Tony out of the way when Wanda does her "Ultron is evil because Tony can't help himself" bullshit. And, even when I appreciate that Fury actually threated Tony like a human being, I still don't trust him because the whole 'Let's leave Tony to die slowly and give him the antidote on the last minute'. And because Nat wouldn't have stabbed him if Fury hadn't given the order. So, yeah, I wanted Tony to be a little more suspicious. 
> 
> I know, I know, this chapter is awfully short, but next will be probably the conclusion of the Ultron arc and it will have many plots. 
> 
> Thanks for the support!


	11. Achillea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> _Under investigation lies a bitter heart_  
>  Let the poison sink in, let it leave its mark  
> There used to be a likeness, used to be a spark  
> But communication, let it go too far
> 
>  
> 
>  _Bad intentions_ of Diggital Daggers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  **Achillea:** War.
> 
> Music for this chapter: 
> 
> Second scene: [_Eyes on Her_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQv4asb62dM&list=PLKSpEFz5SAQPwGLsC2R-87OP-01ORtulH&index=4) and [_Return to Me_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDYBbhanRWU&list=PLKSpEFz5SAQPwGLsC2R-87OP-01ORtulH&index=3) from _The White Queen._
> 
> Fourth scene: [_Banished_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zxTrVhLVjY&index=18&list=PLNeiyom4reIsC962eMm4J7RGiEDEo8zmy)  
>  from _The Other Boleyn Girl._

_ Damn it.  _ Natasha sucked the point of her hand that the electrified bar had touched. So, Ultron wasn’t stupid as he was theatrical.

She asked herself if Clint had made it with the cradle. Her friend had finally agreed to help them again after Steve used his ’Cap’s voice’ to tell him that the situation was dangerous worldwide and that his family wasn’t going to remain safe even if he stayed with them to protect them. They needed him at least to fly them to Seoul because Tony had stayed behind to try to take Ultron out of the internet and Bruce didn’t have to be near the robot while he had the scepter. Maximoff had called them warning about Ultron’s plans of destruction. The girl was apparently a good spy after all.

And Natasha had ended up locked in a damn cell.

It was embarrassing; since when could the Black Widow be trapped by some megalomaniac in need of an audience?

She looked around and almost cracked up when she found an old radio.

No, Ultron was _ definitely _ stupid.

Nat smirked when she began to work. If she couldn’t get out, then she would bring the war to them.

 

* * *

  
  


Wanda was panting when they got out of the broken train. Telekinesis was something that she never had consider to master. It was too  _ visible _ but she had to play along with the captain to avoid suspicions. Pietro had apparently realized that when he began to help stop the train. He was sitting down now and it was the first time in almost two years that Wanda saw him physically exhausted.

“Is he with us?” the captain said looking down at her brother. “Or is Ultron still in his head?”

So, he had believed that lie.

“My brother is with me,” she said putting a hand on Pietro’s shoulder in part to assure Rogers that that was true and in part to stop her twin from lashing out. “Anthony is not here?”

“He has stayed at the tower to help bring Ultron down from there,” Rogers answered as though that wasn’t important. “I will call Hill to bring you both there. I have to go find Nat.”

“The cradle, did you get it?” Wanda took his arm when he started to walk.

“Stark will take care of it,” Rogers said coolly and Pietro got up still glaring at her. She didn’t have to read his mind to know that he doubting that  _ her way _ was actually working. Wanda wanted to laugh. Here was the member of the team that least trusted Stark. It wasn’t a real challenge.

“No, he won’t,” she whispered, painting her face with confusion.

“What are you talking about?”

“He— He won’t. He is terrified of what is coming and he made Ultron for that, but Ultron was a mistake.” Wanda looked Rogers right in the eyes, defying him to contradict her. “And he will do anything to make that mistake  _ right. _ ”

Rogers blinked at her and touched the communicator on his ear. “Stark, come in.” The captain pressed his lips in a line. “Stark. Anyone on comms?”

“We have to get to the Tower,  _ now,”  _ Wanda insisted. Behind her concerned visage, she admired how easily the suspicion formed in Steve’s mind. “Before we get another creature to fight.”

When they flew into New York, Wanda was in for a surprise.

“Banner, after everything that's happened—” the captain argued with the two scientists.

“That was _ nothing  _ compared to what's coming!” Stark had said, his voice strained with rage and fear.

“Anthony, you don't know what's in there! That thing...!”

She hadn’t known that she would be  _ that _ right about Stark, but the amount of fighting that escalated was quite a pleasant surprise. The captain didn’t seem to doubt attacking a so-called teammate with his shield while he was barely wearing half of his armor. Pietro had ended up on the floor thanks to Barton —what was he doing there now?— and Thor appeared out of nowhere to throw lightning at the cradle. The creature emerged in the end, but it wasn’t what they expected.

Wanda could sense on him a kind of life, but after that it was  _ nothing,  _ it was like trying to read a newborn’s mind. She didn’t look enough for him to sense her because, in the moment that he began to talk, she knew that he would.

“I'm sorry, that was...odd.” His voice was identical to Anthony’s beloved AI, but without a tread of sarcasm or mechanism. It was perfectly human. “Thank you,” the creature said, smiling at Thor.

“Thor, you helped create this?” Rogers was looking at the android with suspicion.

“I've had a vision. A whirlpool that sucks in all hope of life and at its center is that ” Thor said pointing at the android forehead.

“What, the gem?” Banner asked.

“It's the Mind Stone,” Thor explained quickly. “It's one of the six Infinity Stones. The greatest power in the universe, unparalleled in its destructive capabilities.”

They started to talk about the stones and how that new being was the key to defeat Ultron. Stark was sure that because he had implanted Jarvis in it, he would be good, but Wanda had seen it. He wasn’t Jarvis. He was just another... child. Another child that could turn out just like Ultron.

“I'm not Ultron. I'm not Jarvis. I am...I am...” Wanda saw the pain crossing across her lover’s face when the android said that. Tony had, maybe, sacrificed his beloved AI for nothing.

“I know what Ultron wanted to do with you,” she interrupted the ’Vision’. ”The only things that I saw in his ideas was annihilation.”

“And why you were there in the first place?” he retorted. Wanda tensed. Did he know about them? It was not possible because he had been dreaming when she was there.

Wanda lifted her chin, looking at him right in the eyes. “I was spying and getting my brother on the right path.” Pietro seemed in pain while trying to contain himself in that room filled with their enemies.

That seemed to be all that the android needed to trust her and lifting the hammer was what the Avenger seemed to need to trust in him. Their naivety was so obvious as was their distrust of each other, or maybe the case was that because Vision was more naive than them that helped their immediate trust. Thor was the only one in the room that seemed clearly pleased with the situation; he even patted Anthony on the shoulder.

“Half an hour,” Rogers said after that. “Get what you need.”

“He could have killed you in that moment,” she told Anthony when they were alone in the lab. “Rogers. He threw his shield at you when you were unarmored.”

“You told him that I was going to create another Ultron.” His voice was cold and low, and for the first time in months, Wanda felt her grip on him was easing.

“No,” Wanda said, not putting the effort in hiding the panic in her voice. She reached out to him cupping his face in her hands. “No, I didn’t tell him that. I told him that you were scared and you  _ were _ . Anthony, don’t look at me like that. You collapsed in my arms as they treated you because of Ultron. I knew that you wanted to amend that and I was  _ afraid. _ ” Her voice broke into a dry sob.

Stark’s eyes softened with that. He sighed, taking her hands and kissing them. “Tell your brother that he is welcome. You have to stay here for your protection.”

“What?” Wanda spat. He had already moved on, putting a pen-drive with the world  _ Friday _ in a computer. “No, I will go, I have to help.”

“Wanda—”

“It’s my country that is in danger!” she hissed and she was being completely sincere this time. Wanda wouldn’t watch Sokovia fall no matter how much she would have preferred to stay behind while the Avengers got themselves destroyed. She wanted Sokovia free, from both Hydra _ and _ the Avengers. A killer robot was the last thing that they needed on the list. And in part, it was hers and Pietro’s fault because they should have kept that creature out of their territory. “I will not stay here and do nothing.”

“It’s too dangerous,” he tried to argue.

“So am I!” Wanda said taking a step in front of him. “Ultron is planning to destroy  _ all of us _ and if I die here or there, what’s the point? If I die here or when the aliens return it wouldn’t make a d—”

“Don’t say that!” he shouted and took her shoulders. “Don’t— Don’t say that, Wanda. Never. Wanna you go? Okay, but I  _ beg you:  _ stay out of Ultron’s way. You betrayed him in his mind and he would come for you. Stay with the people and help the evacuation with your brother. Just— Just  _ please,  _ I don’t want you too in the body count. Not after this. Not after all those people.”

“Hey,” she wrapped her arms around him. “It will be alright.”

“I love you, you know that?” he whispered and Wanda tensed up, burying her hands in his hair. “And this... This was never what I wanted.”

“I know.”  _ Ironically, this isn’t what I wanted either. _

 

* * *

  
  
  


“Natasha! Natasha!” Bruce’s voice alerted the spy. She had seen Ultron accumulate dozens of suits and drones before he decided to leave her there. And apparently, he was too busy to realize that she had given his position out.

“Bruce?” Just like that, he was there in front of her. 

“You alright?” He asked. 

Nat nodded. “Yeah, is everyone in?”

“Yes, the team's in the city, it's about to light up.”

“I don't suppose you found a key lying around somewhere?” Nat tried to avoid the sarcastic drawl in her voice but she had spent hours trying to break out of that electrified mess.

Bruce smirked and lifted up a blaster. One of Ultron’s creations. “Yeah, I did.”

“So what's our play?” she asked as they began to walk away from the cells.

“We could help with the evacuation, but I can't be in a fight near civilians,” Bruce said and she knew why. The wound of Johannesburg was still fresh and deep, but... she had seen how many minions Ultron had and the city couldn’t be emptied just by herself. Not without casualties.

“Just us? And the Maximoffs?” she asked, doing the math in her head. Nat stopped suddenly near a cliff. “He has too many soldiers, we won’t be enough to protect them all.”

“Tony and I had got a new guy who is helping to neutralize Ultron. C’mon, it will be fine,” he said, smiling or trying too. Probably because if he didn’t he wouldn’t hold the other guy. But Natasha wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at the numbers in her own head. And the smile that Ultron had when he ripped apart his old body.

“We won’t be enough,” she muttered and Bruce shook his head slightly, trying to comfort her. He probably thought that she was in shock.

_ I’m gonna regret this. _

“Bruce,” Natasha cupped his face in her hands. “Forgive me.” And she pushed him over the cliff. 

Bruce Banner disappeared into the hole.

And the growl of the Hulk resonated in all the castle.  

 

* * *

  
  


“Ultron knows we're coming. Odds are we'll be riding into heavy fire, and that's what we signed up for. But the people of Sokovia, they didn't. So our priority is getting them out.” The captain had said this while they were in the Quinjet on their way to Sokovia. Pietro sat with his twin, never leaving her side the whole flight. His eyes remained locked on Stark. 

Pietro snorted at Roger’s words about his country. “All they want is to live their lives in peace, and that's not going to happen today. But we can do our best to protect them. And we can get the job done, and find out what Ultron's been building.”  _ We were at peace before your doing brought Hydra to our streets,  _ Pietro’s mind screamed, but Wanda was lucky that he didn’t say it out loud.

“We find Romanoff, and we clear the field. Keep the fight between us. Ultron thinks we're monsters and we're what's wrong with the world,” Rogers ordered, still high on his self-importance.

_ You are,  _ Wanda thought.

“This isn't just about beating him. It's about whether he's right.” He finished and every single one of his friends nodded. Except for Anthony, who was crestfallen and looking at the windshield.

_ We are all monsters. You just pretend to be a hero. _

Pietro had told her that he needed to find Zrinka and Costel when they finished with the area that they were ’assigned.’

“I will take them out from here and help you to evacuate the rest of our people,” her brother whispered to her when they were ’suiting up’. Wanda nodded, distracted from the short conversation she’d stolen away with Anthony just minutes ago. It had been her only moment away from her brother’s watchful eyes. 

Pietro glowered as he put on a new shirt and pair of shoes from Stark, refusing to put on any body armor. Wanda donned her black dress and red long coat. “Hey,” Pietro took her arm when she didn’t immediately turn to listen to him. ”When this ends, when Ultron gets destroyed, we don’t have to let them escape.”

“What?” Wanda exclaimed. 

“He loves you,” her brother growled, his hand tightening painfully on her forearm as if the mere word was poison. “Stark. He loves you and trust you completely. You said that we would do it your way. Isn’t this your way, sister? When the people and city are safe. When Ultron gets destroyed. We will destroy  _ them. _ You will use your powers, just like before. End this, Wanda,  _ forever. _ ”

“I—” she muttered. Her instinct was to fight her brother’s rash call, to insist that she had to make the decision later. 

“What?” Pietro spat. “What better place for them to fall than in this battle? Ultron said it: people hate them now thanks to your work in Johannesburg. And  _ we _ will be the heroes, Wanda. The heroes that Sokovia always needed.” She just nodded and allowed herself to be hugged by her twin. Pietro was sure about how things were going to work out. 

He whispered in her ear before letting go of her. “Allow me this, sister. Let me know that Stark doesn’t have you all yet.”

_ No one has me, _ she thought, part with rage, part with confusion.

They separated when they got into the city, Pietro and she started to warn the civilians — Wanda tried to use some of her powers to make them leave quickly, being careful that Barton didn’t see her— but even with that, they were still people hiding in the buildings or who didn’t want to listen to the warnings. When Ultron’s drones started to show up and try to stop them from leaving, their countrymen decided to believe them.

The battle increased. Apparently, SHIELD decided that they wanted to be helpful for once and appeared to evacuate the people on helicarriers. The Avengers concentrated themselves on the church with Ultron and the twins with them, watching, fighting and waiting. Ultron had put a core of some device in the middle of the church. This would lift Novi Grand higher and then drop it like a meteor. They talked about something: blowing it up.

“We gotta move out,” the captain said. “Even I can tell the air is getting thin. You guys get to the boats, I'll sweep for stragglers, be right behind you.”

“What about the core?” Barton asked.

“I will protect it,” Wanda said looking down at the machine. Both Pietro and Stark turned at her, one glaring furious, the other worried, even when she couldn’t see his face under the faceplate. “I can handle this.”

Stark was hesitant at first, but Thor called him to put the plan into action. The safety of the world was more important in that moment. Pietro, on the other hand, got close and hissed in her ear.

“I'm not going to leave you here. We were supposed to take them down  _ together. _ ”

“If Ultron wins there will be  _ nothing _ to take down,” she whispered, there was no time for discussions in that moment. “Get the people on the boats. Find Costel and Zrinka. Come back for me when everyone else is off, not before.”

Pietro hugged her with such strength took the air from her lungs. “We’re still not done with this fight, little sister. Remember that.”

Ultron’s drones were easy to destroy, even when her mastering of telekinesis wasn’t as good as she wanted.

“You know, if this works, we maybe don't walk away.” Wanda heard Stark’s voice say in the communicator. A strange smile appeared on her face.

“Maybe not,” Thor replied.

_ Maybe not _ , she agreed, a twisted smile forming on her face as she destroyed another drone. But in her chest, it was an unfamiliar feeling that she couldn’t quite place.

Then, like a lightening, images hit her. Too quick. Too fast. A car going up, Costel, bleeding and in Clint Barton’s arms. Then  _ pain,  _ sudden, fast. So quick to come as to go.

And when Wanda opened her eyes, she was surrendered by drones, but they didn’t matter. Nothing mattered except the pain, except the horror. Except the  _ dreadful _ feeling that had taken place in her mind.

She let out an animal scream, taking all the creations of that creature with her pain.

Inside, her mind just screamed a single word.

_ No.  _

  
  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ding, Dong, the idiot is dead! 
> 
> So, is this fic getting boring or something? We are over the Ultron arc now, but I can't believe that _Desire_ has more reads and comments than this. Anything that you find wrong guys, you can tell me, I am not writing this because I can't take constructive criticism.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me [here.](https://ambitiouswitch17.tumblr.com/)


End file.
